The New Neighbor
by maggie.mitchell.7543
Summary: When Austin moves in across the street from Ally, will this new guy end up sweeping her off her feet? (I stink at summaries, the story is a lot better than the summary so please just read!) :)
1. New Neighbor

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

I roll over and stuff my face into my fluffy pillow. What _is_ that noise? It's the first day of summer and I know that I shut off my alarm. My summer is only a month long seeing as I'm 23, in collage and have to take more classes so I can achieve a music major; teaching minor degree, so I have to enjoy sleeping in while I can.

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

"Urrrrg!" I get up and check my phone, it's 9 but can't whoever's out there keep it down a bit? I go over and look out my window, there's a van and a large moving truck. The moving truck is backing up the driveway so it'll be easier for my new neighbors to carry in their stuff. The truck is still making the signature backing up obnoxious beeping noise. I shake my head; throw on a bathrobe over my shorts and tank-top, pull my shoulder length brown hair into a ponytail and head downstairs to bake some cookies. When I was little, my mom always baked something for any new neighbor in a 2 mile radius from our house and had me help her deliver it. I like to carry on the tradition even though my mom died 12 years ago; it's a nice way for me to remember her.

I pull out the cookbook, flour, eggs, butter, sugar and chocolate chips. I decide to double the recipe so that my housemate; Trish and I can have some cookies too. I have the kitchen and entire downstairs to myself because Trish never gets up earlier than noon unless there's a national emergency; like what outfit I'd wear on a date if I ever get asked on one. Once all the ingredients are mixed, I roll the dough into balls and put them into the oven on a cookie sheet to bake. While the cookies are baking, I grab a little of the dough to eat even though you're not supposed to 'cause of raw eggs or something, and flop onto the couch to watch some TV. I flip to HGTV and watch some House Hunters but have to get up every 10 minutes or so to put in a new batch of cookies and take out the done one. About halfway through the dough I go back upstairs to my room to change. I take a quick shower and decide to leave my hair down. I choose a red tank-top to wear and match it with a knee length red skirt and my brown sandals. When I hear the beeping of the oven I hurry back downstairs. After all the cookies have been baked I select 24 of the best looking ones, put them on a plate and walk over to my new neighbors' house.

I knock and a friendly looking, middle aged woman opens the door.

"Hi! Welcome to the neighbor hood! I'm Ally; I live across the street in the blue house with my friend Trish. I brought you a welcoming present," I say smiling.

"Why, thank you Ally. It's so nice to meet a friendly face when you move somewhere new! You can call me Mimi." A tall brunet man tries to walk past but Mimi catches him by the arm and has him stand with her in the doorway. "This is Mike, my husband. Austin, our son is around here somewhere…" Mimi looks back around into the house. Through the door I can see that their house opens right into a large kitchen area where a silhouette stands drinking something. "Ah! There he is! Austin! Come here and meet this nice girl Ally from across the street!"She calls out. Austin comes up near the door, allowing his dad to slip away.

"Hey," is all he says. I look at him. His hair is all messy from sleeping and is the same blonde as his mom's, he looks like he just woke up even though it's around noon now and I know his family had an early morning packing and moving but at least he had the decency to be wearing some sweats. Austin is _only_ wearing sweats and unfortunately, I can't say I mind all that much; he is very muscular and tanned, not to the point of either where it gets ugly but just right. He has deep chocolate eyes that I could get lost in but I don't allow myself to, instead I decide it's about time I leave.

"Sorry to be holding you up, I'm sure you have a lot of unpacking to do. I'm sure I'll see you guys around though."

"Oh, it's no problem dear, come back any time. And thanks again for the cookies!"

"I'll be sure to! You're welcome. By the way the cookies are chocolate chip." At the mention of the cookies, I noticed that Austin perked up. Hmm…he must like sweets.

"Yeah, thanks…"Austin glances at Mimi.

"Ally," she says.

"Of course, knew that. Thanks for the cookies Als." He smirks and walks off back into the house. Als?! It's a cute nickname but why would Austin give me a nickname?

"Bye Mimi." I wave and walk back to my house. Trish is downstairs, her hair a curly black poof and wearing her favorite cheetah print pajamas and sitting at the island in the kitchen.

"Hey Ally. What were you doin? The house smells good." Typical Trish, right down to business as long as it was anyone else's business. I made sure to hide the remaining cookies before I left otherwise I know she would have devoured them by now.

"There are some new neighbors across the street, I baked them some cookies which is why the house smells good. There are some for us too in the cupboard." Trish gets a crazy, cookie face thinking about them and so I add, "You can have _two_ only _two_!" She looks a little disappointed but still happy that she gets cookies. "The woman's name is Mimi, her husband is Mike and their son's name is Austin."

"Ooohhhh! How old is he? Is he cute? Dude, is he better than cute?" Trish asks, totally excited again.

"Weeeellll…um I'm not sure what age he is but he looked around our ages so 24 ish maybe? He's…attractive but also looks like trouble and _so_ not your type. Plus the fact that he still lives with his parents." Trish gives me a quizzical look; most every guy our age with a six pack is 'her type', "He's blonde," I clarify.

"Yup. Not my type." For some reason unknown to me, Trish does not do blonde. A guy can have pink, red, black, brown, blue or green hair but if he's blonde she won't look his way again unless he makes his way into her friend circle and as far as I know, none have managed it yet. Trish has a bowl of Lucky Charms for brunch while I stick to my favorite cereal, Special K Red Berries.

"So, first day of summer vacation, what do you wanna do Trish?" I ask.

"Mmm…How 'bout the beach? We haven't gone there in a while and I could use a tan." I laugh because since Trish is Hispanic, she is always much tanner than I am. She gives a small glare, failing miserably at looking grouchy and finishes, "And we could stop by the ice cream shop."

"Sure, that sounds great." We put our dishes in the dishwasher and head upstairs to grab our stuff. I leave my outfit lying on my bed because I'll probably wear it again, after the beach. I pick my blue bikini that has some little ruffles under the covering piece of the top and put it on, over it I wear a cute white summer dress, I grab by bag packed with my book, _For Darkness Shows the Stars, _sunscreen and a towel. Although it is just the beginning of summer, here in Miami, it's already very warm outside. I meet Trish downstairs and we get into my car. My car is a red Volkswagen slug bug and so I have to remember each time to punch Trish and say "Slug Bug" before she does it to me because her punches hurt.

"Slug Bug!"

"Aww! Again? Why don't you ever let me call it?"

"'Cause I like to," we laugh at my answer and get into the car. Trish knows the real reason but likes to humor me. It's only a five minute drive so we get there really quickly and get a good parking spot surprisingly. We hop out, find a good spot and lay our towels down to sunbathe.

I must have nodded off in the warm sunlight and cool breeze because the next thing I know I sit up freezing and soaking wet. "Ahh! Who's responsible…"I trail off when I see Trish, Austin and some red-head cracking up and holding a bucket. "Hey! Not nice!"

"Chill Als! It's just a prank, we've been doing it to people all along the beach…and you looked like you could use some cooling off anyway; you're turning red."I look down and my arms, legs and stomach are sunburned.

"Oh no…I forgot to put on my sunscreen…"

"Ya think? You're the same color as a lobster! We didn't stick around for the results of our other pranks but since you live across the street from me and I'll probably have to have you over because my mom adores you, I wanted to see what you'd do. Since you 'caught' us, we'll treat you and Trish to ice cream," Austin tells me. Then he gestures at the red-head, "This is Dez, short for Dezmond. We just met here on the beach but we were instant friends."

"Ok. Ice cream might help me forgive you guys. Hi Dez, incase you haven't heard my name yet, I'm Ally." I pack up my stuff, slipping on my dress carefully and cringing because of the burns. We walk over to Dina's Delish when we open the door a bell rings and pretty brunet looks up at us.

"Hi! Welcome to Dina's Delish, we serve the best ice cream around! How can I help you?"

"I'd like a single scoop of caramel-butter-pecan in a waffle-cone please," I say. I get the same thing almost every time so the choice is instant.

"Single scoop chocoholic deluxe in a waffle-cone," Trish states.

"A single scoop of lemon meringue and a single scoop of rocky road topped with sprinkles in a cake-cone," Dez says smiling like everyone orders crazy combinations like that.

"Umm…make that two caramel-butter-pecan orders please," Austin says confidently but when I make a sideways glance at him he looks kind of nervous. He sees me looking and pulls on his cocky smirk. What is up with that boy? We all eat our ice cream heading back to the beach. Trish and I stop in front of my car. "Slug Bug!" Austin cries and punches Dez in the arm.

"Ow Dude!"

Austin ignores Dez's mumbling and turns to me, "If you need anything from my mom or dad in the next week, you'll just have to ask me 'cause they're out of town for work. See you around, bye Trish, bye Als."

Trish and I get into my car and she almost explodes holding her words in until we are out of the parking lot. Once we are, "Why does he call you Als? Dude, I think he likes you!"

"I don't know; he only learned my name this morning when he heard I brought cookies. Nah, but did you see that Dez guy eyeballing you?

"Yeah! He's not too bad, he could use a tan though…so pasty…" We laugh, Trish and her boy interests. When we get back we change into regular clothes and spend the rest of the day chatting about random things, sitting outside for a little and watching TV.

Around 9 when Iron Chef America ends I get up, "I'm tired, so I'm headin' up to bed now. 'Night, Trish."

"Night, Ally," Trish says already engrossed in the next show. I go upstairs and change into my music note pajama shorts and white tank-top. I turn out my light and try to fall asleep despite the aching and heat from my burns.

**A/N**

**So what do you guys think? Good? Bad? Interesting? Terrible? Please review! **

**I don't own Austin and Ally, HGTV, House Hunters, Lucky Charms, Special K, For Darkness Shows the Stars, Volkswagon, Iron Chef America or anything else you guys recognized that isn't my story or plot line.**

**~Maggie **


	2. Austin's Party

**A/N**

**OH MY GOSH! Thank you for all the favorites already! I can't believe I already got 6 favorites and 5 follows, that's only 4 less right now than my last story! I'm gonna dedicate this fanfic to all you guys at the end :)**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot line**

_I'm running. I'm running away from the blonde boy carrying a bucket of sludge that hisses and pops and radiates heat. He's chasing me down the beach, his footsteps pounding; boom, boom, boom. Somewhere people are laughing and shouting. He catches up to me and says, "Don't worry, it's just a harmless prank Als," before dumping the bucket's contents on me._

I gasp and open my eyes. That was a weird nightmare/dream. I kicked off my blankets while I was sleeping but still feel too warm because of my burns. I go to the bathroom and splash my face with water to clear my head a bit. I pull the Aloe-Vera gel from the cabinet and apply it to my burns, cooling and helping heal them. The gel must work like magic because my arms are already more of a light pink than lobster red. Heading back to my bed I hear the noises from my dream still continuing. I look out my window and see that Austin's house is all lit up and there are a bunch of cars parked out front. I check my clock, it's midnight! And how did he get all those people to come over, he just moved here from _California!_ I know I won't be able to get back to sleep with how loud his music is so I decide to go over and nicely ask him to turn it down a bit. I pull the white dress from earlier on over my pajamas, throw my hair in a ponytail and head down.

I ring the doorbell and Austin answers, he's holding a beer and behind him I see a bunch of people dancing, lights flashing and hear music blaring.

"Hey, Austin. How many of those have you had?"

"Chill, this is only my first; I've been drinking lemonade all night _and _I'm 24 so it's perfectly legal if that's what you're worrying about. So whatcha doing? Joining the party?"

"Ok, well I was coming over to ask if you could turn _down_ the party a bit, it's really loud and I can't sleep. And how did you find all these people anyway?"

"For the latter, I posted a status on Facebook saying that we were having a party tonight at my house on Dez's timeline. It also said to share with your friends and so it basically went viral. Before you ask, Dez doesn't have many real friends but has a bunch of people on Facebook randomly. For the former…well we'll have to see."

"Wha…" I was going to ask him what he meant and why he can't just let me sleep but he grabs my arm and drags me inside.

"You just need to have a little fun, dance with me Als!"

"I can't dance!" I say and trying to change the topic, "Does Mimi know about this? I bet she wouldn't approve of it being the first day here and you already trashing the place!"

"No, Mom doesn't know about it, but we'll have it cleaned up in time so _please_ don't tell her! And your topic-changing stinks. Everyone can dance, just follow along!" Austin pulls me onto the dance floor and starts doing all these cool moves. I don't want to make a huge fool of myself so I look around and see what everyone else is doing, which is just jumping around to the rhythm or making random arm gestures to go with some of the lyrics. Party Rock Anthem is playing and getting out of my comfort-zone; I bounce around with everyone else and get lost in the crowd.

_Get up, get down, put your hands up to the sound  
Get up, get down, put your hands up to the sound  
Get up, get down, put your hands up to the sound  
Put your hands up to the sound, put your hands up to the soun_d

_Party rock is in the house tonight  
Everybody just have a good time  
And we gonna make you lose your mind  
Everybody just have a good time_

I'm having a lot of fun but steering clear of the drinks table because I don't drink alcohol and by this time I'm sure someone has spiked the lemonade. While dancing, I bump into a girl in a sparkly black dress, her red haired dancing companion exclaims, "Oh hey! Aren't you Trish's friend?" and then turning to the girl who I assume is Trish, "Trish! Your friend is here!"Why is Trish at Austin's party with _Dez?!_ Especially Dez who is wearing clown shoes, a tux-t-shirt, neon green pants and that huge, ridiculously cheesy smile?

"Hi Ally. You had already gone to bed when Dezyroo invited me and I didn't think this was your scene but I'll invite you next time if you like it…hee hee hee…or did you just come to see Austy?"

"No, no, it's ok Trish. I just came by to tell Austin to turn down his music so I can sleep…"I tell my best-friend warily. "Dez? Is she drunk?"

"I don't think so; she only drank some water until a little while ago when she had a glass of lemonade…"he trails off as realization dons on his face. "Well, it was only a small glass so she can't be _drunk_; she's probably just a little buzzed. She must take alcohol hard though."

"Yeah, that's why both of us avoid drinking. I should probably take her home."

"Nah, I'll watch over her and besides, I want to keep dancing with her even if she is a little 'out of it'; she's the first girl who's willingly been around me!"Dez counters. I feel kinda sorry for the poor guy so I agree. The house is stuffy, hot and loud so I go outside into the backyard for a breath of fresh air. The moon is just a wisp of light in the sky, surrounded by millions of sparks in the dark sheet of the sky. I sit down by a large tree that's been at this property a lot longer than Austin. I wonder if it likes that he's having such a loud party. I can still here the noises from the party but if I try, I can hear the calming sounds of the night, the wind whispering through the leaves, an animal scurrying through the dark and the occasional car driving down the street. I get up and wander around the yard listening for a little and then sit back down, this time slipping my bare feet into the pool. I stare at the reflection of the sky in the pool and then up at the real thing and feel like I'm getting swallowed by the galaxy. I get pulled back by someone sitting down beside me.

"Hey Als."

"Hey. What's with you seeking me out? None of the other girls single?"

"I'm sure plenty of them are but none caught my eye." I feel like there are two unspoken words in his statement; _unlike you. _I gulp; up close I see the layers of brown in his eyes giving them a lot of depth. He is pretty attractive but I know his "type". The cute flirty boys who have a new girlfriend every couple weeks, I have to be careful.

I avert my gaze and change the topic, "I would stay away from the lemonade now if I were you. My friend just had a small glass and now she's dancing with Dez and calling him _Dezyroo._"

"Really? Thanks, I'll stay away from both her and Dez and the lemonade!" He asks. I nod and he busts out laughing. "I wonder what she'll do when you tell her!"

"I don't even know." I laugh. Austin's pretty cool, despite the stereotype.

"Wanna have some more fun?" he asks. Uh, oh, what's he gonna do? He smirks and before I can reply, pushes me off the edge and into the pool. The water is a nice, mild temperature and feels awesome on my sunburn. I pull off the dress covering my tank-top and shorts and let my hair down. I'm not even that mad at Austin; this feels so good! I laugh and dive under the water, surfacing, I splash Austin.

"Join me in the depths!" I call to him like a naiad* beckoning their lover. I was just joking around but to my surprise, without hesitation Austin pulls off his shirt and jeans, leaving him in just his semi-truck boxers and jumps into the pool making a huge splash. I laugh, "You know, I was just kidding!"

"Yeah I know, but the look on your face was priceless!" he laughs back. Priceless? What expression was on my face other than shock? Did I blush? Well, he did look like a stripper for a moment there so I had all rights to be uncomfortable. "SPLASH FIGHT!" Austin yells, interrupting my thoughts. He sends a wave of water using his entire arm. I duck underwater so it doesn't hit me in the face.

"Oh you're on!" I shout back splashing at him with both hands. We splash back and forth for a while, trying to win the 'Splash Battle'. At one point I think Dez comes out to check on Austin but leaves after someone accidentally splashes pool water on his clown shoes. When we're both tired from swimming around, ducking and splashing, we both think we've won but since we're both tired we decide it was a draw. I swim over to the shallow end and stand there with my eyes closed, resting. Austin comes up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist. I tense at first but instead of pulling away like the sane part of my mind tells me to, I melt into his chest and arms. My brain doesn't seem to be processing right because I'm so tired. He's gentle so he doesn't hurt my sunburns, his body is cool and wet from the pool but warmth flows from him at the same time. I feel safe here, I'm so tired I could fall asleep just like this, and I could stay here forever, held by Austin.

He whispers in my ear, "This was fun Als. I suppose it makes me more than the new neighbor across the street."

"Mmmm…yeah, I guess so. I had fun tonight, even if it was only a couple hours."

"How much more do you want me to be Als?" He's leaving it up to me? Then I think about how he's been; he hasn't done anything I haven't let him; choosing to stay and dance, inviting him into the pool, not pulling away right now.

Unfortunately, what's left of my sane mind kicks in momentarily though and I leave his warm embrace. "I-I don't know right now. I'm sorry Austin but this seemed really fast." I look away; otherwise his puppy eyes will pull me back in, "Maybe at some point but not now. Um, it's late I should probably find Trish and go home. Will you help me find her?"

"Oh, um, sure. Your clothes are all wet; I'll go grab something for you to put on while we walk through the house. Stay out here for now." Austin sounds genuinely disappointed. Does he really care for me? A few minutes later, Austin returns wearing his clothes again and tosses me a purple hoodie. "Here," he says. I pull it on and realize it's his hoodie; it's a good thing that if Trish remembers me wearing it I'll still be able to taunt her about the 'Dezyroo' thing.

"Thanks."

"No prob" I can see my rejection of him has made things really awkward, but that's kinda a no duh. We walk in silence through the party until we spot Dez's red hair sticking out above all the other people. It's a good thing we spot Dez because we couldn't have found Trish in all these people seeing as she's pretty short.

"Hey Dez, Ally's ready to take Trish home and besides it's probably a good time to start clearing people out and cleaning up; it's 3 in the morning."

"Ok. I'll start by telling people that we're out of refreshments and if that doesn't clear most of them out, I'll just announce 'PARTY IS OVER PEOPLE!'."

"Sounds good buddy. Ally, I gotta go spread the news of party ending too but I assume you can find your way to the door."

"Yeah. Thanks for the party Austin."

Dez looks a little confused at the tenseness in Austin's and my words but just shrugs and turns to Trish, "Bye Trish-ka-bob! It was a lot of fun!"

"Bye Dezyroo, see you soon I hope." Trish says and does a flirty wave.

I roll my eyes and lead her out of the house. Once we get inside our house she refocuses on sleep and goes up to her room. Uhhhg, I'm so tired! I go upstairs and take off my wet clothes but put Austin's hoodie back on; it smells good, is soft and too large on me, falling to my mid thigh. I crawl into bed and fall asleep quickly but my last thought before I enter dreamland again is, "No Austin, you're not just the new neighbor anymore."

**A/N **

**Ok, so I have two questions for you guys:**

**1) Should there be Trez in this? (Trish and Dez romance)**

**2) How'd you like it? **

**Please review with your opinions and answers! :)**

***a naiad is a Greek water spirit**

**~Maggie**


	3. Chores with Austin

**A/N**

**This is a long one guys! Thank you for all your reviews, follows and favorites! XD**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plotline**

I sit at my piano and play a few chords having thought of some lyrics inspired from this morning/ last night. I slept until noon and its one now but Trish is still asleep, I bet she won't wake up until much later. The sleeves of Austin's hoodie fall down so I push them back up to my elbows; play a few more notes and sing,

_St-st-stutter when I talk, flail around as I walk  
Yeah the moment's been killed  
And I'm not good at this no, not all  
I'm not good at this_

_I got my eyes set on you  
My heart is burning red  
All of my words come out wrong  
Run circles in my head  
_

That's all I have and I'm not sure where they'll be placed in the song but it's a good start. I hear the doorbell ring and go downstairs. I answer the door and Austin's standing there.

"Didn't think you'd still be wearing that," he smirks, referring to the hoodie.

"Yeah, so did you come back for it?"

"Nah, you can just return it whenever. I came to ask if you and Trish could help us clean up since you guys are our…friends."I can understand his hesitation before calling us friends; we just met a little over 24 hours ago and yet at the party he basically asked me to be his girlfriend.

"Ok, thanks. Sure, we didn't have plans. We'll be there ASAP but that could be anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours 'cause I have to wake up Trish, we both have to get dressed and then I have to warn her about her 'relationship' with Dez. And yes Austin, we are friends."

Austin chuckles, "Ok, we'll just try to start on the clean-up. See ya then." I nod and shut the door. I know that the best way to wake Trish up before she wakes herself is to splash her with water so I fill up a glass and go into her room. I dump the water on her face and jump back while she yells a few curses at me.

"Sorry Trish, I had to wake you up. I agreed that we'd help Austin clean up his house."

"You _woke me up_ to WORK?!"

"Yeah…but at least you'll get to see Dez."

"Why would I want to see Dez?"

"Oh dear, um, let's start with how much you remember from last night."

"Well, I continued watching TV after you went to bed. Around 10, Dez comes by asking if we want to go to Austin's party. I agreed and went over. For a while I danced around and drank water. Then I got some lemonade, after the lemonade, most of it was fuzzy. I remember Dez being there and you being there for some reason."

"Well, someone spiked the lemonade. After that you were with Dez the entire night, I don't really know what you guys did but I do know you stayed downstairs. You were calling him Dezyroo and he was calling you Trish-ka-bob. I was there telling Austin to turn down his music so I could sleep but then got pulled into the party." The look of horror on her face is hilarious but I manage not to laugh out loud; only on the inside.

"I-I, um, w-we had _pet-names_ for each other?!" I nod. "Ahhhhh! You'll never let me live this down will you?"

"Nope."

"So what you're saying is if Dez acts flirty and stuff, there's a reason?"

"Mm, hm." Trish looked like she is about to pull her hair out and I think I've gone without her noticing the hoodie but then she notices.

Momentarily forgetting her own situation, she trains the spotlight on me. "Wait, you said you got into the party, what did you do while I was with Dez? Whose hoodie is that?"

"Ummmmm…I just hung out, listened to the music and watched people dance. It's a…friend's," I'm not ready to tell Trish about what really happened.

"C'mon Ally. You are a terrible liar and you know I want details! Tell me!"

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Should I just go ask Austin?"

"No! Fine, I'll tell you." I describe my night; how Austin and I ended up in the pool, how I told him no and how I ended up wearing his hoodie.

"So why'd you say no? You seem to like him a lot and enjoy spending time with him," Trish asks after I'm done.

"You know how there are all those cliques in high school?" Trish nods, "Well, my mind still organizes people into them and he seems like the popular, jockish guy who goes through girlfriends quickly. I'm afraid that if we dated, I'd fall in love and he wouldn't and he'd cheat on or break up with me."

"So you're not listening to your feelings because of a stereotype." I shrug. She shakes her head, "That's stupid. Give him a chance and if he hurts you I swear I'll kill him."

I giggle, "Ok Trish. But don't really kill him; I wouldn't want my best friend in prison!" That makes Trish snort. "Be ready in 15 ok?"

"Kay." I leave and go into my room to shower and change. While I was showering, I formulated a plan to 'get back' at Austin for pushing me into the pool last night even though it was a lot of fun. I wear my yellow tankini and jean shorts. Trish is waiting for me downstairs; she's wearing white skinny jeans and a zebra-print blouse.

"Ready?" I ask.

"Yep, let's go." We walk over and Dez opens the door before we can knock.

"Hey Trish," he says using her name thankfully, not her nickname.

"Hey Dez. How 'bout we forget last night for now because it makes being your friend entirely too awkward."

"Ok! I like being friends! It only took you an hour; Austin said it might take two so it means your hear sooner, yay!" Dez says happily and lets us in. The house isn't as trashed as I thought it'd be, although three large black bags sit in a corner so Austin and Dez must have already picked up garbage.

"So what needs to be done?" I ask

"I'm not sure; you'd have to ask Austin. He's outside taking a break."

"I'll go ask him. You two should haul those garbage bags out to the dumpster." Dez nods and Trish rolls her eyes. I stand there waiting until the two of them get on it because I know how easily it would be for them to get distracted and not do any work at all. I go outside and see Austin standing by the pool and staring at the water. He's in casual clothes, a white t-shirt and shorts, which I'm grateful for because I don't want to ruin his nicer clothes. I walk up behind him and say, "Hi Austin," before pushing him into the water.

"Hey Als! I wanna hello hug!" he says pulling off his shirt, climbing out of the water and running towards me.

"I don't think so! You're all cold and wet!" I call back to him as I run around to the other side of the pool. I figured this was going to happen so I take off my shorts. Austin looked really scared for a second before he realized I was wearing swimwear. We run around in circles until he almost catches me and I jump into the pool. The water is cool but feels good since it's a hot day. I hear a splash; Austin must have jumped in behind me. I turn to face him just as he picks me up.

"Eeee! Put me down! Put me down!"I yell pounding his back lightly.

He shrugs, "Ok, fine."I'm set back down in the water. "You're not mad at me for last night, are you?"

"No, and I thought about it. I _do_ want you to be something more than the new neighbor, something more than just a friend."

"Really?"

"Yep!" His face is so childishly ecstatic. Austin hugs me and kisses my cheek.

"Hey you two! We're supposed to be working not playing around!" Dez says. We're deciding whether to get out or ignore him when he continues, "But I call an official break!" pulls off his shirt and jumps into the pool too.

I roll my eyes, "Dez, are you forgetting something?"

He looks up, doing a mental checklist, "Um, no. I have sun block, a towel, goggles and my friends." How is this guy so blind?

"You forgot Trish. She's not out here. Go get her."

"Oh! Right, get Trish, get Trish, get Trish." Dez murmured to himself while getting out of the pool. Trish opens the door and walks out just as Dez was about to walk in and they bump into each other. "Oof. Hey, Trish. I was just going to get you. We're having an official break to swim."

"Great!" Trish walks back inside for a moment and then walks back out in her zebra-print bikini. "Guess who was wearing her bikini anyway because she was planning on going swimming 'cause she heard Austin has a pool?"

Dez looks puzzled, "Who?" he asks. He is being completely serious.

"Me you dimwit!"

"Oh! So your twin sister Trish is still working? Cool. What's your name?"

"Trish. I don't have a twin sister."

Dez gives an almost sad smile, "Sure, sure," and then covering his mouth with his hand, says to Austin and me, "That must be confusing for her parents; twins with the same names and attitudes!"

"I heard that Dez! And I _don't_ have a twin sister!" Dez doesn't know how to win the argument so he just shrugs and jumps into the pool. Trish does a cannonball and splashes everybody. We swim around for a while talking. Austin and I tell Trish and Dez that we're now a couple, Trish gets all excited and Dez congratulates Austin.

"Well guys, I'm gonna get out now 'cause there's still work to do, we've been in here a while and I'm feeling pruned."I say climbing out.

"I second that!" Austin says following me.

"Okay…I'll come too…" Trish and Dez say at the same time. They look at each other, "Hey! Stop that! I said 'stop' first!" They're _still_ talking at the same time.

"How 'bout you both shut up and the problem's solved?" I ask laughing. They nod in agreement, again, at the same time and then scowl at each other before getting out. Trish and I dry off and put our other clothes on; Trish had to go home to grab underclothes but I just wore my suit with my shorts like before. They guys decide to go shirtless but changed their shorts 'cause they didn't feel like just waiting for them to dry. When we're all ready we meet up next to the pool but fare enough away to keep from anyone getting pushed back in.

"So, what's left to do?" I ask.

"There are some stains on the carpet from beer and lemonade so those have to be cleaned, carpet needs to be vacuumed, floor swept and furniture moved back into place."

I take charge, "Trish, you sweep, it's very little work and almost impossible to mess up."

"Hey!"

I ignore her complaint, she knows it's true that she'd not do or mess up anything else she was given. "Dez, Austin and I will clean stains and then I'll vacuum. We can all help fix the furniture." They nod and we head off to our assigned tasks. Austin gets the broom for Trish and the cleaning supplies out for us. There are a lot of stains; I'm surprised I hadn't noticed when I came in. The stains are really hard to get out so it takes us about an hour to finish.

"Whew. That took a while."

"Yeah, I'm gonna check on Trish."

"'Kay Dez, have fun with that."I say, "She'll find a way somehow for you to sweep for her though."

"Thanks for the tip Ally but I like sweeping so I don't mind." Dez replies walking away.

"Where's your vacuum Austin?"

"In the hallway closet; first door on your right."

"Thanks."

"What? Did you not think I'd tell you Als?"

"No, I figured you would, it's just nice to say thanks after someone helps you." We laugh.

"Knew that!"he calls. I find the closet quickly and find the vacuum. Austin just sits on the couch playing on his phone while I vacuum.

"Whatcha doin?" I half yell over the sound of the vacuum.

"I'm syncing my phone to the Apple TV so we can watch something when we're done cleaning. This cool band called R5 just released a new song." Austin shouts back. Vacuuming takes another 15 minutes and then I call Dez and Trish, who finally finished sweeping, in to help move the furniture. Austin and Dez fix the couch and TV while Trish and I take care of a couple chairs and the coffee table.

"Good job guys! Looks great. Wanna see something?" Austin congratulates us. Trish sits on a chair, on the couch, I sit on one side of Austin and Dez sits on the other. Austin automatically puts his arm around my shoulders while searching something on Youtube on his phone. "Ah, here we go. This is Pass Me By by R5; its premier was just 2 days ago." It's not a lyric video so pictures of the band members show, changing every few seconds.

_Remember that __trip__ we took in __Mexico__  
Yeah  
Hanging with the boys and all your senoritas  
I never spoke up yeah never said hello  
But I keep on trying to find a way to meet ya  
Yeah  
I was chilling you were with him  
Hooked up by fire  
Now his long gone  
Now I'm solo  
Now I've got my chance  
Now I now got my chance_

_Like yeah  
You can be the one I can mess me up  
You can be the one that can break me  
Yeah  
All them other girls said they had enough  
You can be the one that take me  
I was solo  
Living YOLO  
Till you blew my mind  
Like yeah  
You can be the one I can mess me up  
I can't let you  
Can't let you __pass__ me by  
Oh oh oh  
I can't let you pass me by  
Oh oh oh  
I can't let you pass me by_

_I was trying to play too __cool__ to get cup up  
Like, to fun to young to fall in pieces  
I know what girls like you can never get enough  
So I'm addicted, drippin', trying to get you to see this  
The way I need you like I see through  
__Dancing__ out my pants  
Got you shooking, got your looking  
Now I've got my chance  
Now I now got my chance_

_Like yeah  
You can be the one I can mess me up  
You can be the one that can break me  
Yeah  
All them other girls said they had enough  
You can be the one that take me  
I was solo  
Living YOLO  
Till you blew my mind  
Like yeah  
You can be the one I can mess me up  
I can't let you  
Can't let you pass me by  
Oh oh oh  
I can't let you pass me by  
Oh oh oh  
I can't let you pass me by_

_Everywhere I'm looking, everywhere I go  
A million other guys be staring and I know that  
I can be yours and you can be mine  
I just can't let you pass me by.. by.. by  
Everywhere I'm looking, everywhere I go  
A million other guys be staring and I know that  
I can be yours and you can be mine  
I just can't let you pass me by.. by.. by_

_Like yeah  
You can be the one I can mess me up  
You can be the one that can break me  
Yeah  
All them other girls said they had enough  
You can be the one that take me  
I was solo  
Living YOLO  
Till you blew my mind (Till you blew my mind)  
Like yeah  
You can be the one I can mess me up  
I can't let you  
Can't let you pass me by  
Oh oh oh  
I can't let you pass me by  
Oh oh oh  
I can't let you pass me by  
Oh oh oh  
I can't let you pass me by  
Oh oh oh  
I can't let you pass me by_

"That was AWESOME!"

"Yeah, really cool."

"I thought it was cool too. Austin, that one boy looks just like you! Do you have a twin or something?" I ask, curious.

"Nope, it's me. Ratliff and I are friends who perform in the band. His real name is Ellington and his last name is Ratliff so that's how his name fits. Rocky, Riker and Rydel are siblings and decided that my stage name should be Ross; they didn't have a very good reason, they just liked it. Since I moved, I just Skype them to chat, discuss song ideas and practice. If there's a performance I'll fly out and meet them wherever it is. My mom wanted to move so that I could have a more normal life and I agreed. Since my parents are gone most of the time I didn't see the point of living separately when I could have a house all to my self that my parents would 'visit'." It seems he likes being in a band but doesn't want us to gawk at him and become crazed fans so we let the subject drop.

"Oh, that's cool." Add that to the small list of things I know about my boyfriend. We watch more R5 videos and some Hetalia anime. We were all doubtful at first since it was Dez's pick but Hetalia is really funny; it's personified countries running around doing random stuff. I check the time and realize it's already 7! "I'm hungry, should I make something or should we go out to eat?" I ask. I seem to start a lot of conversations with asking questions…

"I don't care but I want pancakes," decides Austin.

"Pancakes for dinner?"

"Yep."

"Okay…anyone else?"

"Pancakes sound good to me." Dez

"I don't care I don't care, I just want food." Trish

"What about you?" Austin asks me.

"Well, I don't really care so I guess we're going to IHOP."

"YAY!" Austin jumps up and grabs his keys. "Well, are you guys comin?" He asks and runs out to his car. We follow him out less excitedly after Dez put on a shirt and we grabbed one for Austin to wear.

**-After IHOP- **

"That was more fun than I thought it'd be Austin," I tell him.

"Pancakes make everything better!" From this experience I learned his 3 favorite foods; pancakes, corndogs and anything sugary.

I laugh, "Right."

"Wanna hang out tomorrow; learn more about each other? I could find a way to get rid of Dez." Austin asks.

"Sure. And Trish'll be busy 'cause she has to babysit her cousins."

"Cool, see you then." He kisses my forehead, "Goodnight Als." I'm glad Trish went home quickly and Austin already dropped Dez off at his house; my face is red and I wouldn't want them to see this.

"Goodnight Austin." I hug him and leave. Today was a lot of fun, I think this'll be one of the most interesting months of my year; no school, I'm even taking a break from work and I'll probably hang out with Austin every day.

**A/N**

**Hope you enjoyed! I know I changed some of the lyrics to "Yeah" in Pass Me By. I did this because even though I really like the song, I don't swear at all; even the lesser words so I felt better changing it slightly. Please review! Thanks for your opinions! I'm thinking there will be Trez but in a couple chapters.**

**P.S. Should I have some of Austin's perspective in the story?**

**~Maggie**


	4. A Day to Remember

**A/N**

**Thank you guys so much for all the follows and your reviews!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plotline**

I wake up at 11, slightly surprised that I slept so long; I was only up reading until midnight last night. I notice that I got a text message from Austin.

_Good morning Als. :3 Come over whenever you're ready, Dez bought himself a llama and is off taking care of it._

It's so sweet that he sent me a good morning text. I respond, **Good morning Austin. :) Ok, I just woke up so I'll see you around 1. I worry about that guy sometimes.**

_See you then babe. I worry about him too; he named the llama Mr. Carrot-skiddilywhiffers…_

**LOL :)**

I shower and put on some light makeup, taking my time. I decide to braid my hair and wear a Beatles t-shirt and blue skinny-jeans today. I hear Trish's loud alarm go off and then the thump of her rolling out of bed. She hates watching her cousins 'cause they're crazy little things but she gets paid $5 per child per hour so she always accepts the job. On a good day she can earn $150; if she doesn't walk out or go insane by then. I snack on a piece of left-over pizza cold for breakfast; just one of my weird perks.

I go out into the backyard to read for a little before going over to Austin's. Trish and I don't have time or skill to really do a lot of work in yard but we keep it mowed. There are some nice, tall trees from previous owners and a bench we bought. I sit down on the bench in the dappled light to read.

I hear my phone buzz, _Hey Als, You comin? _I see that it's 2, I hate being late!

**Yeah, coming right now! Sorry, I got lost in my book. **I send, running inside to drop off my book before heading over. The door is open so I just walk in and call, "Knock, knock!"

"Hey Als! Come on in, I'm upstairs!" Austin replies. I go up the stairs and find Austin sitting in his room, only wearing sweats, strumming a guitar.

"Really, you couldn't even put a shirt on?" I ask not really meaning it.

"What? You don't like this?" He asks back gesturing to himself. I blush and nervously giggle. Since I don't know how to respond I change the topic.

"Hey, you got any inspiration for a song?"

"Not really, I mean, I have some notes and chords but no lyrics."

"They'll come to you, don't worry," I tell him. "So what do you wanna do?" He shrugs. Gosh, I hate it when you ask what people want to do and they don't answer. "Um, you got any video games? I bet I could beat you; I'm pretty good."

"I have Halo, Assassin's Creed, Mario Cart, Star Wars Battlefront and this weird car racing game," he says holding up a few games.

"How 'bout Halo, we can play in multiplayer mode."

"Ok, what do you want to bet?"

"What?" Who said anything about betting?

"You said you bet you could beat me. I'm wondering what you wanna bet." Curse my competitiveness. "How about, if I win, I get a congratulatory kiss and if I loose, I get a kiss to comfort me in my loss."

I laugh at his silly terms, "Whatever, either way you end up with a kiss so I'm going to add that if I win, you go stand outside in the road just as you are now and sing Justin Bieber's Baby at the top of your lungs and then you get a good sportsmanship kiss."

"Fine." We shake on it. Austin puts in the game and starts up the Xbox. I'm on team blue and he's on team red. It only takes me 5 minutes before my team dominates and Austin looses. "Two out of three?" He asks hopefully.

"Why not?" We continue to play and I win again.

"How are you so good at this?" Austin asks exasperated.

"Lots of practice. It's not very girly but Halo is my favorite game. My older brothers and I always used to play together. By the way, you loose. Go on out there." Austin sighs and trumps down the stairs. I look out his window and see him standing there singing. I pull out my phone to record this, it's a must have! When it's finished, Austin comes back up to the room and makes me swear to no more Justin Beiber torture; just in case.

I kiss him on the cheek, "Hey! You know that's not what I meant!"

I giggle, "But you didn't specify so…" He rolls his eyes playfully.

"Rematch? I can't have the shame of being beaten by a girl!"

"Sure, but I'll win. Here's the new bet, if I win you tell me three of your most embarrassing secrets and if you win, I'll face my worst fear and perform for you."

"Agreed! I'm so gonna win this one!"

"Are not!" We play to 5 out of 8 and I still win. I'm glad because I'm not ready to perform for Austin even if he is my boyfriend.

"Arrg! Do I really have to?" Austin complains.

"Yes! It was our bet and I won fair and square!"

He sighs, "Fine. Three of my most embarrassing secrets…" he thinks for a bit before responding, "I've never kissed a girl; or even really had a proper girlfriend. The only one other than you was on a dare and we were 10." At that my last stereotypical worries are crushed. "I'm terrified of umbrellas because when I was little and on a school fieldtrip, an umbrella ripped off my pants and left me standing there in just my truck boxers. I didn't like being half naked, for a while I even had trouble swimming shirtless."

"You don't have much problem with that now." I comment.

He tries to scowl at me but can't and just ends up smiling and shaking his head, "I was 7. Now I'm laying in my bed playing videogames with my girlfriend." He pauses again, "Hmm, and I still really like coloring books. The ones with animals are the best."

"Wow, I can't believe you answered honestly!"

"Yeah, but why would I want to lie to you?"he says scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. "Hey, are you afraid of falling? It's more commonly known as fear of heights."

"No, why?"

"C'mon!" Austin says not answering my question. He grabs my hand, I get a tingly feeling and smile, he's such a sweet guy. In his other hand he grabs his guitar and climbs out the window. We get to a flatish place and sit down. "It's awesome to come up here and look at the sky."

"Why'd you bring your guitar? And how'd you climb up with no free hands?"

"In case I get inspired. Practice." He smiles. "So, tell me some stuff about yourself." We start out with fairly normal stuff, like favorite colors. His is yellow and mine is red. We both have loved music since we were really little and hate olives. We play our little question and answer game for a while until he asks, "So tell me about a weird quirk of yours babe."

"Hm, ok. I like mismatched sock with polka dots," I say pulling down the lip of my converse to show him. "I also like eating cold pizza; in fact, that's what I had for breakfast." He laughs at that. "What?"

"Nothing, I just like that you're one of a kind. What else?"

"Well, I like swimming at night and dancing in the rain, crazy right?"

"Just kinda but that's what makes you special." He gets that ah ha look on his face and grabs his guitar. "I got it!" He sings staring at me,

_You like mismatched socks with polka dots  
You like your pizza cold; I think that's hot  
You like to swim at night when the moon is full  
You think that makes you strange; I think that's cool_

_And you say you're scared_  
_That I won't be there_  
_Baby, I swear_  
_I'm not going anywhere_

_You can change your hair_  
_Five times a week_  
_You can change your name_  
_Get a little bit crazy_  
_You can dance in the rain_  
_Rockin' secondhand chic_  
_But I live for the day_  
_That I'm calling you baby_

_'Cause I'm falling for you  
For everything that you do  
Baby, I'm falling for you  
You might be crazy  
But baby,  
I'm falling for you_

I applaud, "Aww! That's so sweet Austin!"

He blushes, "Thanks." He scoots closer to me and when I don't resist, wraps his arm around me and holds me to his chest. We sit there like that watching the sun set. When the first star appears I notice Austin is looking at me and not the sky anymore. I face him and look into his eyes. I suddenly have the urge to kiss him. He's staring into my eyes and I into his, I can see he wants to kiss me but I give a small shake of my head. I really want to too but I'm not ready, I can't have this emotional attachment yet, I only just met him and then we started being boyfriend and girlfriend. My mom raised me to be pure and I want my first kiss to be on my wedding day. Maybe it will be with Austin but not yet. His eyes reflect silent understanding but he still leans forward, resting his forehead on mine. His warm breath brushes my cheeks as he whispers, "And you say you're scared that I won't be there, baby, I swear I'm not going anywhere." He takes my hands in his and presses them to his lips. Still holding my hands he gently kisses my forehead and then my cheek.

"You can still be my first kiss Austin," I whisper, still lost in his eyes, "just in another time, in another place."

The hoot of an owl brings us back out of our own little world. I shiver and Austin draws me closer to him. "Let's go inside." I nod and we get up. I follow him carefully in the near dark, never letting go of his hand. "How about we watch a movie?"

"Ok Austin. I need to go back just for a little to change into something comfier." I tell him with a yawn.

"I'll come with you."

"Mm, 'kay" We walk over to my house and go up to my room. He sits on my bed while I go into my bathroom to change into my pajamas, let down my hair and brush my teeth.

"You look tired Als, do you wanna go back to my house or just watch the movie here?"

"Here's fine." I yawn again, "What movie do you want to watch?"

"Romeo and Juliet, it's my favorite."

"Ok, go ahead and put it in lover boy." I climb onto my bed and Austin follows after putting the movie in. We don't get under the covers, thinking that'd be a bit much but I do snuggle into his side, resting my head on his shoulder. About halfway through the movie I drift into a dose where I'm still partially conscious but mostly asleep.

Austin must think I'm fully asleep because I hear him whisper, "Ally, I think I'm in love with you. I have been ever since you first came to my door. I know that was only three days ago but I can't help myself but think about you. Every moment is filled with you. I'm talking 'bout starting out as friends I'm talking 'bout real and not pretend I'm talking 'bout roles of a life time you and I can even write the end. Let's go home together, play our roles forever, let's grow old together, here comes forever girl."

In my groggy state I whisper back, "I'd like that Austin. I'd like that a lot." He responds by kissing my forehead gently. I hear the movie end and Austin turn it off. I feel his warm presence start to leave and I whisper, "Don't leave me Austin."

He whispers back, "Never Als. I will never leave you. I'll stay right here." After laying a blanket on top of me, he kisses my cheek and goes to settle himself in the red comfy chair. I smile at him, kind of sad we couldn't stay the way we were but know it was for the best and close my eyes, drifting to sleep.

**-Austin -**

I just had the most amazing day. I had to sing Justin Beiber in the street and unveil my most embarrassing secrets but it was all with Ally. I can't believe she asked me to stay with her while she sleeps; to stay with her through the night. I'm the luckiest guy ever, as creepy as it sounds, watching the beautiful girl I love sleep so peacefully after being with her all day. She lets out a final sigh before slipping into deep sleep. I peck her on the nose one last time before I try to get comfortable in the chair until I too slip into the embrace of sleep.

**A/N**

**Hope you enjoyed, please review, follow and/or favorite! :)**

**~Maggie**


	5. Pancakes and the Zoo

**A/N**

**Ok, so school started again. I'll try to update as soon as possible but I will have school and homework and stuff now. :( **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot line…**

I open my eyes slowly and see Austin. Why is he here? He leans down and kisses my cheek gently. He's sitting cross-legged next to me on the edge of my bed.

"'Morning Als. I stayed, just like you asked."

"Thank you, Austin."I say remembering.

"I have to leave tomorrow for a performance so how do you want to spend today?"

"Mmm…I just wanna be with you. Maybe we could check in with Dez and Trish and see if they want to do anything." I prop myself up on my elbow, "And I'm going with you tomorrow. It's in Chicago right?"

"Ok, that sounds good. Yeah, it is, cool! I can't wait for you to see me perform!"

"Yeah, me too!" I smile. "Say we go downstairs…"

Austin cuts me off with a groan, "But I'm not ready to go downstairs, can't we stay like this a little longer? I like sitting and talking here with you."

I shrug, "Ok, we can stay here for another five minutes." Austin smiles and we just sit there for a little longer enjoying each other's presence. When I feel like time's up I say, "Now, before you cut me off, I was going to say let's go downstairs and make some pancakes."

His face lights up like a Christmas tree, "Pancakes!? Let's go, let's go, let's go!" He jumps off my bed and runs downstairs. I get up and follow him downstairs. Austin's standing in the kitchen with pancake mix, milk, a pan and oil already out. I grab a bowl and spoon to mix and hand them to him.

"Go ahead and start mixing it all together." He nods vigorously and sets to work putting the ingredients into the bowl. In his excitement he stirs the flour too hard before it's fully mixed in and it gets all over him. I laugh at his pouty face. "You have to go slower, you goof!" I take a wet rag and wipe the flour off his face and chest and then out of his hair.

"Thanks, Als."

"No problem." I start pulling out blueberries, strawberries, bananas, chocolate chips, syrup, powdered sugar, sprinkles, whipped cream and peanut butter to top the pancakes.

Austin's eyes enlarge at all the topping supplies. "Whoa. Can we put the blueberries and chocolate chips in the pancakes?" He asks excitedly, almost begging.

"Of course! That'll be awesome! Knock yourself out with as many toppings as you want Austin." I chuckle. Gosh, this guy makes me laugh a lot and I love him for it. When we finally have all the pancakes made, Austin stacks his plate with ten and piles everything on. I smother my two with peanut butter, sliced bananas and syrup and then we dig in. Austin inhales out his entire mountain of pancakeness in five minutes flat while I take longer, enjoying the pancakes rather than just inhaling them.

Soon I find out that everything is fun with Austin, even doing dishes, which I hate. When I accidentally splash him, he places bubbles on my head. "Hey!" I splash back, dowsing his entire front.

"Oh, no you didn't," he says in a girly voice.

"Oh, yes I did!" I respond in the same voice while grabbing the sink nozzle and spraying him. He grabs cups in both hands, filling them with the soapy dishwater and dumps them on my head. Our little water fight continues until we're sitting in a puddle on the floor, both sopping wet and laughing hysterically. "You…make me…have the most fun…EVER!" I gasp out in between laughing.

"Good." Austin chokes, having as much trouble as I am speaking. He shakes his head like a dog; flinging water and making me break into another round of laughter.

"I…s'pose…we should clean…this up."

"Yeah…I guess." He stands up warily and once he has his balance, pulls me up alongside him. We finally get control of our laughter and get back to work.

"I'll grab some towels to dry all this up while you finish the dishes, kay?" I tell him, already going to get the towels.

"Um, sure." I come back and Austin must be a master dishwasher because the dishes are already done. He helps me mop up the water on the floor and then stands up, stretching, "I'm gonna go home, shower and change. I'll text Dez and then meet you back here 'kay?"

"Ok." I go upstairs and wake up Trish; luckily I didn't have to dump water on her this time. Once she's started getting up I go to my room, shower and change into a red t-shirt and jeans. I go downstairs and see Trish and Dez sitting next to each other awkwardly on the couch and Austin on the other end waiting for me. His messy hair looks tame compared how it was after sleeping in a chair all night, getting flour in it and then a water fight. He's wearing a black t-shirt, black leather jacket and white skinny jeans.

"So, what do ya guys wanna do?" Dez asks.

"I saw this pamphlet for the Miami Zoo, we could go there. They have baby tigers and dolphins!" Trish suggests.

"Aww! Let's go!" Austin says, "I'll drive!"

"Ok!" Outside we pile into Austin's car; him driving, me in shotgun and Dez and Trish in the back together. Austin turns on the radio and I can't help myself, I start singing with it. He smiles and sings along too.

_Looking for the one tonight__  
__But I can't see you__  
__Cause I'm blinded by all the lights, ooh__  
__And I can never get it right__  
__I need a breakthrough__  
__Why are you so hard to find? ooh__I've been searching every city__  
__Never giving up__  
__'Til I find my angel__  
__Diamond in the rough__  
__Looking for a signal__  
__Baby turn it up tonight__Come on get loud loud let it out__  
__Shout it out from the rooftops__  
__Come on get loud 'til they shut us down.__  
__Come on get loud loud let it out__  
__Show me everything that you've got__  
__Come on get loud loud I need you now__  
__Baby let me hear it loud__Na Na Na Na Na Naa__  
__Na Na Na Na Na Naa__  
__Na Na Na Na Na Naa__Looking for the light to shine__  
__To start a fire__  
__Girl I'll be the first in line ooh__  
__And baby when our stars align__  
__We can't get no higher__  
__You just give me a sign__Come on get loud loud let it out__  
__Shout it out from the rooftops__  
__Come on get loud 'til they shut us down__  
__Come on get loud loud let it out__  
__Show me everything that you've got__  
__Come on get loud loud I need you now__  
__Baby let me hear it loud__Na Na Na Na Na Naa__  
__Na Na Na Na Na Naa__  
__Na Na Na Na Na Naa__(Na Na Na Na Na Naa__  
__Na Na Na Na Na Naa__  
__Na Na Na Na Na Naa__  
__Looking for the one tonight__  
__Na Na Na Na Na Naa__  
__Na Na Na Na Na Naa__  
__I've been looking for the one tonight)__Come on get loud loud let it out__  
__Shout it out from the rooftops__  
__Come on get loud 'til they shut us down__  
__Come on get loud loud let it out__  
__Show me everything that you've got__  
__Come on get loud loud I need you now__  
__Baby let me hear you loud__Na Na Na Na Na Naa__  
__Na Na Na Na Na Naa__  
__Na Na Na Na Na Naa__Baby let me hear it loud__Na Na Na Na Na Naa__  
__Na Na Na Na Na Naa__  
__Na Na Na Na Na Naa__Baby let me hear it loud__Na Na Na Na Na Naa__  
__Na Na Na Na Na Naa__I've been looking for the one tonight_

"I thought you have stage fright." Austin says.

"I do but I guess when I'm singing with someone it's ok. Also, I'm not on a stage in front of an audience!"

"Well that's great!" We fall into a comfortable quiet, still listening to the radio. I look in the rearview mirror and see that Dez and Trish are holding hands. As discreetly as possible I nudge Austin so he sees too. His eyes get big and he mouths, "_What the heck? Dez and Trish together?" _I just shrug in response. We get to the zoo and thankfully not many people decided to go today so the parking lot is fairly empty and there's no line for tickets.

"Where to first?" I ask

"Let's go through the water animal section, that way we can pass by the baby dolphins and then we can go to other animals."

"Alright, that sounds good." We walk down and see fish of every shape and color. Sharks circling in their marine world, rays and seahorses and jellyfish swim around in their tanks. I notice that Dez and Trish walk next to each other but are a foot apart like they want to be together but don't want anyone to know. We get to the dolphin exhibit, there are three or four adults swimming around and two smaller ones who must be the babies staying close to a female.

"Awww! Look at 'em! They're so adorable!" I say.

"Yeah! I wanna ride one!" decides Dez.

"You can't." Trish scoffs.

"Why not?"

"One, we're at a _zoo_. Two, I don't think they like carrots or clowns."

"Hey! Don't judge the shoes!" Dez says, I look down and see that he is indeed wearing clown shoes again… Trish rolls her eyes and walks away from the dolphins. Austin and I follow, holding hands while Dez trails behind, still in a huff. We continue to explore the zoo, visiting the birds of prey, big cats where we saw the tiger cubs, meerkats, monkeys, marmots, elephants, polar bears which I'm not sure how they survive here and canines. Dez and Trish bicker the entire time but Austin and I have a good time looking at and talking about all the animals. His favorite we visited were the baby dolphins while I adored this little snow leopard. For lunch we all got hamburgers from a concession stand, they were surprisingly good. We're looking at t-shirts in the gift shop when Austin gets a text and looks alarmed.

"What?"

"We gotta leave. Our flight was changed from tomorrow morning at seven to ten tonight."

"What time is it? I had to turn off my phone because the battery 's dying."

"It's six. Let's find Dez and Trish and go."

"Ok." We find them and leave hurriedly. I did the math in my head; we should be able to make it with an hour to spare if we time everything correctly. When we get back, Austin and I say good bye to Dez who has to take care of his llama and Trish who's going to the movies or something and go to our separate houses to get packed. We're only going to be there for one night, so I just pack a carry-on. There'll be the concert but also a fancy dinner with R5. I pack torn jeans and the purple R5 t-shirt Austin got for me to wear on the concert day, another outfit for the next day, Austin's hoodie, my pajamas, a sparkly, formfitting black dress and some matching silver heels. There's just enough space left to stuff my toiletries and book. I force my suitcase closed and check the time: 7:30. I go out and there's a white limo waiting, a chauffeur takes my stuff and puts it in. I get inside and see Austin; his warm smile makes me feel comfortable even though I find it weird we're riding to the airport in a limo.

The driver looks at us in the review mirror and asks, "Is everything satisfactory Miss Dawson and Mr. Lynch?"

"Yes, thank you Victor." Austin replies formally. "We'd like the privacy screen please."

"Of course Mr. Lynch." Victor says. A shaded glass window slides up in between him and us.

I scoot closer to Austin and take his hand in mine. "Mr. Lynch? What's that about Austin?"

"Since I'm going to perform, all the service, fans and other people will know me as Ross Lynch. It's kind of like if I were a super hero and Austin Moon is my 'secret identity' or regular person while Ross Lynch is my hero/popular singer name. You'll know me as Austin and you can call me that but everyone else will be calling me Ross and it'll be better if that's how you refer to me in public too."

"Ok, Ross." I giggle a little because it sounds so weird not to call him Austin.

"We're not in public now you know."

"Oh, right. What if I get confused, Austin?"

"You'll do fine."

"So why aren't you Ross Moon?"

"The Lynchs kind of adopted me when I joined their band so when they gave me my stage name they thought that I should just go all the way and be part of the R5 family."

"Ah. Ok. Driving always makes me tired. What about you?"

"Sometimes but I'm not now because it's already 8:15 and we're stuck in traffic 30 minutes away from the airport." Uh, oh. I sit up, no longer tired.

"What if we don't make it in time? What if we miss our airplane? Oh, no. Oh, no." I say starting to panic.

"Als, chill. We'll make it…probably."

"That wasn't helpful!"

Austin puts his hands up, halfway in the surrender position and halfway in a defensive posture, "Sorry! Sorry! Let's do something to keep your mind off it okay?"

"Sure. I hope you think of something." Austin knocks on the glass, it rolls down and he asks Victor for something and then it rolls back up.

He holds up a little pack, "How 'bout Uno?"

I shrug, "Ok."

I really get into it and both of our competitiveness has us playing and playing until Victor rolls down the glass and says, "We've arrived. I hope you have a good trip Mr. Lynch and Miss Dawson." The game ended in a draw of ten to ten wins for each of us. Victor gets out our luggage and we rush off me with my suitcase and Austin having to haul his guitar in its case as well as his other carry-on.

"Time?" I ask slightly out of breath from rushing to security.

"9:30, we're cutting it close. Luckily we have VIP status so we can go to that line." He says nodding at an almost empty one. We go over and get through security in 15 minutes. With only 15 minutes until take off we're literally running through the airport to our terminal like in Home Alone. We make it just in time, section three is just being called but we get in and take our first class seats.

We sit down and buckle up and the intercom comes on, "Hello, this is your captain, Michelle speaking. Thank you for choosing Frontier Airlines, we hope you have a pleasant flight. Refreshments will be provided as soon as we have reached the cruising altitude." I feel the plane moving. "Please keep your seat-belts on until the lights turn off. Once they are off, please keep them on whenever you are in your seat. No more than one person can be waiting for a lavatory at any time. There are two lavatories in the back of the plane and one in front. There is no smoking in the plane at any time or in the lavatory. The emergency exits…" I tune her out; she's just going over the regular plane rules. I content myself with looking out the window as the plane lifts off. She stopped talking finally and the screens on the back of the chairs came on.

"Do you want to watch a movie?"Austin asks me.

"Not really, I'm gonna sleep."

"Ok. I'll sleep too." We lean our seats back a little and I rest my head on his shoulder. After the long day at the zoo and then the stress with getting on the airplane on time I fall asleep quickly, happy to be going with Austin to see him perform.

**A/N**

**I love seeing on my email when I get follow and favorites, thank you so much! Please review!**

**~Maggie**


	6. Chicago

**A/N**

**I was a little sad when I didn't get any feedback yesterday, but when I checked my gmail today and saw that I had gotten four reviews I did a happy dance! Thank you thefarley, LimoLuzie, LoveShipper and marteeey! **

**Disclaimer: I still don't own anything but the plot line.**

"Ally. Als, it's time to wake up, the plane's landing." A gentle shaking wakes me up.

"Hey, Austin." I stretch carefully. "What time is it?" The plane is filled with the noises of people shuffling and groaning slightly as they wake up.

"It's midnight here, but we've been traveling for three hours so it feels like one in the morning to us."

"Yay," I say sarcastically. I do _not_ find it fun to be at an airport at one in the morning.

"We'll be fine. We'll disembark soon and then go to our hotel and get another eight hours of sleep." I just nod.

The seatbelt lights turn on and the intercom crackles to life, "Please put all chairs in an upright position and fasten your seatbelts. Turn all electronic devices off as they may interfere with our signal with the radio tower. Welcome to Chicago, Illinois the current time is 12:03 am. Thank you for flying Frontier!" Austin and I do as we're told and prepare for landing. The landing is smooth and since we're in first class we're able to grab our carry-ons and disembark quickly.

"Where are the rental cars?"

"We don't need one." I look at him like he's crazy. "We have a limo waiting for us outside."

"Right. Let's go find our limo then." I start off toward a door with an exit sign above it.

"Als, you didn't wait for me to tell you which way; you're going the wrong direction."

"Knew that." I turn around and follow him. My tiredness is really messing with me. I let him lead us through the maze of people, terminals, escalators, baggage claims and security. I don't know why there's security on the way out; yeah we totally picked up a gun on the airplane, but I go through with it, ready to sleep. We finally make it outside and find the guy standing in front of a limo holding a sign that says "Mr. Lynch". The limo driver looks like one of those FBI guys with the black suit, sunglasses and ear pierce cord thingy.

Not even looking at me he asks Austin, "Mr. Lynch, who is this with you? We were not informed about you having a companion."

"Rude, you could just ask me." I mutter under my breath.

"This is Ally Dawson, she's my girlfriend. She has the same status as I do so I expect she's treated with respect."

"Of course, sir," he replies and then turning to me, "Pleasure to meet you, miss." He does a half bow from the waist. I nod my head. I look at his nametag; Eric is engraved into the shiny metal. "May I take your bags, miss?"

"Yes." Eric takes Austin's and my luggage and puts it in the trunk. Austin and I get in; this limo is polar opposite of the other one in color scheme. The one that took us to the airport was white and had light leather seats with a skylight, this one is black with black leather seats and a red velvet roof lined with lights like the red carpet was turned upside down and used for the ceiling of a limo. During the thirty minute drive Austin watches out the window and I fiddle with buttons changing the lighting, temperature and music.

"We're here." Eric says and then gets out and opens my door for me.

"Thank you." Austin gets out behind me and we receive our luggage from Eric.

"I'll be back at seven this evening to take you two to dinner."

"Ok. Have a good drive." Eric gets back in and speeds off down the street. I look up at the hotel we're staying in; it's the best Hilton hotel in the area. It goes up so high I don't even know how many stories. We go inside, the lobby is a long room filled with comfortable looking chairs and there's a blue rug on the floor. The room glows with elegant, warm light. "Whoa."

We go up to the front desk and while I'm still marveling at the sheer size of the lobby Austin checks us in, "Hi, we're checking in under the name Ross Lynch."

"Room 3058. Enjoy your stay," the receptionist says in a monotone voice without looking up from her computer. She passes two card-keys across the counter. Austin looks at me and just shrugs. He takes the keys and hands me one. We find our way to elevator. The elevator is huge and gorgeous just like the rest of this place. The mirrors are spotless and the floor is made of ebony wood. There are thirty floors and we're on the top. The elevator ride seems to take forever, I almost fall asleep and then it dings, announcing our arrival on our floor. We find room 3058 and get inside. The color scheme of the room is blue and brown, there are nature pictures by famous artists on the walls and we have a wall of windows looking out at Lake Michigan but all I care about right now is finding my bedroom and collapsing.

"Goodnight, Als. Your room is over there," Austin says pointing. He kisses me on the cheek and goes into his room. I stagger over to my room, dropping my suitcase and just manage to get under the covers before passing out.

**-Line Break-**

I wake up starving and still in yesterday's clothes. I take a quick shower and change into the R5 t-shirt and ripped jeans that I'll also wear at the concert. I use room service to order a heaping plate of eggs, hash browns, bacon and sausage. I sit on my bed and eat, taking in my surroundings. My room is decorated similarly to the main room, blue and brown with paintings. On my bedside table is a vase of fresh flowers and a note saying, "Thank you for choosing Hilton. Please call 444-789-9087* for anything you need. We hope your stay is comfortable." That's nice of the Hilton staff. Once I finish eating I go out to the main room and sit by the windows, watching boats on the water. I hear the door open and look up to see Austin.

"Hey, Als, nice to see you up. I'd give you a hug but I'm all sweaty right now from working out. I'm gonna take a shower real quick and then we can do something before the dinner," he says. Austin's not just sweaty; he's _extremely_ sweaty; his white t-shirt is stuck to him with sweat.

"Ok. Hurry up with that shower, I hate sweaty guys!" I laugh.

He pretends to take offence, "You hate me?"

"No! I hate the sweat on you, I don't hate you."

"Good." He says before going to his room to shower. Austin comes out about thirty minutes later all clean and smelling good. "So, we have about nine hours to do something before we need to come back to get ready for dinner. What do you wanna do?"

"I don't know anything about Chicago; we could just go down to the lobby and see what brochures they have."

Austin shrugs, "Ok." We go down; the elevator stops several times, letting people in. At one level, these two teenage girls get in.

"Oh my gosh! It's Ross Lynch, Lisa!" the blonde one squeals.

"I know! Can I please get an autograph! Oh, wait, I don't have paper or a pen, how 'bout a hug instead!" Lisa squeals. Not even waiting for an answer, she throws herself at him, forcing him to hug her.

"Uh, nice to meet you, Lisa, and," he pauses looking at the blonde.

She fills in, "Abby."

"Yeah, nice to meet you. I always like to meet my fans." Lisa is still in close proximity of Austin and it makes me feel a little jealous. What about me? I take Austin's hand.

Abby's eyes get a little wide at that, "Are you guys together?" she asks.

Austin remembers my existence, "Yeah, this is Ally."

"Nice to meet you, Ally."

"You too." We reach the lobby and get out.

"See you around." Austin says.

"Yep!" both Lisa and Abby chorus excitedly before heading off.

"Well that was interesting. Are fans always like that?" We go over to where they have all the promotional stuff.

"Mm, most of the time. The reason they didn't know you is 'cause I didn't want you to have to experience having your privacy invaded by the press."

"Oh, thanks." I find a brochure telling about the top 25 things you should do while in Chicago. "How about this?" I ask showing it to Austin.

"Sure. This one's the highest ranked," he points, "the navy pier, described as, being a Chicago landmark since it opened in 'showcases a unique collection of restaurants, shops and plenty of entertainment'. There's a children's museum, an IMAX theater, an indoor botanical park called Crystal Gardens, the Chicago Shakespeare Theater and a museum entirely for stained glass windows."

"Cool, let's visit the botanical park first and then the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, maybe they'll be performing something interesting."

"Ok. The pier isn't far from here so we can just walk." I hold on to the brochure for additional info and in case we get lost, there's the address on it. We don't get lost and it takes us ten minutes to get there. There are a lot of cars and people but what did I expect in a big city? We follow signs pointing us toward Crystal Gardens and when we find it; my first impression is that it looks like a glass Tacoma Dome. Inside are tons and tons of plants, plants hanging from the ceiling, crawling up the walls, and growing from the ground. The ground slopes down and from our viewpoint I can see that there's a lake with an island connected to the mainland with bridges in the middle. I feel like we stepped into another world.

"Let's explore!" I say walking quickly down and pulling Austin behind me all the while taking in and marveling at the scene around me. I don't know how long we spend in the botanic wonderland but when Austin feels he's seen everything it has to offer he decides it's time to go to the theater. I feel like I could stay forever, but am interested to see what will be performed so I follow him out. We find our way to the theater and take seats. Austin throws around money like it's nothing; the seats we got up front were $50 a person but I guess that's what happens when you're a famous singer.

A lanky, grey haired man in a tux steps out onto stage in front of the curtain, "Welcome to the Chicago Shakespeare Theater! Today we'll be performing Hamlet and after, Romeo and Juliet. Thank you and enjoy." He walks off the stage and music starts to play. The heavy red curtains open as the play begins.

"Who's there?"

"Nay, answer me, stand and unfold yourself!"

"Long live the King!"

"Barnardo!"

"He."

**-Line Break-**

I clap as the final curtain closes after the cast finishes bowing. "That was cool, thanks for bringing me!"

"Of course, Als." Austin kisses me on the cheek and I blush. He looks at his phone, "Well, it's time to go."

"Ok." We get up and walk back to the hotel. We go to our separate rooms to change. I get into my shimmery black dress, braid a gold scarf into some strands that go around my head and let the rest of my hair lay loose, give myself smoky eyes and pull on my heels. I look in the mirror, I don't look bad. I go out and find Austin leaving his room at the same time.

"Hey, handsome," I tell him. He's dressed in a white button down shirt; sleeves rolled up to his elbows, dark jeans and a dark blue tie.

"Hey, beautiful," he wraps his arms around my waist and draws me close. I rest my head on his chest and he kisses my forehead. We savor the moment for a little before Austin reminds me of our planned activity, "C'mon we have a dinner to get to." We release each other and go downstairs. It's exactly seven and Eric is waiting outside for us with the limo.

"Miss Dawson, Mr. Lynch," he says nodding to us. He opens the door and we get in.

"So where are we going, Ross?" I ask, aware that we don't have the privacy glass up and it'd be weird if Eric heard me call him Austin.

"Some place called Graham Elliot. It's really fancy."

"Oh, cool." We sit in silence for the rest of the ride, not knowing what to talk about but not uncomfortable. When we arrive we head inside.

Austin goes up to the hostess, "Hi, I'm meeting some friends here. We have a reservation under the name Riker Lynch."

"Of course, I'll take you to your table sir," she says and leads us to a booth where five people are already sitting. Two of them have blonde hair, two have brown and one has hair somewhere in between. They all have brown eyes, are dressed similarly to Austin, except the girl who's wearing a red cocktail dress and a black leather jacket and look really friendly.

"Hey, guys. This is my girlfriend Ally," he says to them. "Ally, these are Riker, Rydel, Ryland, Rocky and Ratliff," he says, introducing me to and pointing to each in turn.

"Hey, Ally," they all chorus. We sit down, Austin on the edge and me sitting next to Rydel. The waitress comes and we order, once the food comes, we chat over dinner. It's much nicer than I'm used to and so delicious I would eat here every day if I could afford it. Rydel and I become fast friends, it's hilarious when she shows me pictures of when Austin was little and he tries to reach over me to grab her phone. All too soon dinner ends and we have to go back to our hotel to change for the concert. Rydel and I exchange phone numbers first, in case I don't see her in the morning or after the concert.

Back at the hotel I change into the outfit from earlier and knowing Austin will take a bit longer, I go down to the lobby to wait. I see the fangirls we met in the elevator, jumping with excitement as they walk out on their way to the concert. I turn as the elevator dings, letting Austin out. I don't know how he packed all his clothes into his carry-on; now he's wearing a red t-shirt under a red plaid shirt, black jeans with a chain hanging from the pocket, black Vans, dog tags and a chain with a R5 guitar pick on it.

"You look great, Ross!"

"Thanks, Als." He takes my hand and kisses my cheek. A now familiar pulse runs up my arm and I shiver, I love being close to him.

The drive is quick and smooth. When we arrive, Austin and I part at the entrance; him to go backstage and me to go find my seat. Austin made sure I got a seat at the very front, I'm so excited!

R5 takes the stage and Riker takes the mike, "Hello Chicago! Our first song tonight is Here Comes Forever!" he steps back into his place and Rocky starts with the lead,

_I'm like that boom box outside of your window,_

_I'm that De Lorean blowing past 88,_

_And where we're going girl,_

_Won't be needing roads 'cause,_

_Oo oo oo oo_

_This ain't no 50 first dates._

_I'm talking 'bout starting out as friend,_

_I'm talking 'bout real and not pretend,_

_I'm talking 'bout roles of a lifetime,_

_You and I can even write the end._

_Yeaaah._

_Here comes that movie scene,_

_One you hate, so cliché,_

_That moment when we kissed,_

_By the lake, pouring rain,_

_I ain't no superman,_

_But I can change your world._

_Ooooo._

_Here comes forever girl_

_Oooo_

_Here comes forever girl_

_Oooo_

_Here comes forever girl_

**-Line Break-**

They finish the last song and sparklers go off from the stage; the gold sparks must reach up twenty feet! They have a standing ovation and I'm applauding wildly along with the rest of the audience. Austin steps to the front, "Thanks for all your support guys! Without you we couldn't be here." No one has sat down because we'll be leaving soon but out of the corner of my eye I see a movement. Cutting Austin off, a pretty, petite blonde haired girl with pink streaks jumps on stage and kisses him! From my seat I have an all too good view of it, the kiss feels like it lasts forever, when it's over the girl whispers something in his ear and goes back to her seat. Austin looks slightly uncomfortable, "Um, goodnight Chicago!" he finishes and heads backstage. I get up and go backstage too, where I was supposed to meet him anyway after the performance.

Rydel comes and stands beside me while the other R5 members just stand back. "Austin! How could you?" I practically scream not even caring that I didn't call him by his band name. I raise my hand and slap it across his cheek.

"Ow! I didn't! It only lasted like five seconds! I'm sorry Als!"He says, holding his cheek that is now a bright red.

"And when she whispered in your ear-" my eyes tear up. I bet she whispered something seductive or her phone number, or both!

Austin cuts in, "She said it was a dare!"

"Then why didn't you push her away!?"

"She would have fallen off the stage!"He sounds exasperated like he's explaining to a child.

"So you kiss her back," I deadpan.

"I wanted it to be you Als but you know these things happen! It hadn't happened to me before, but I've seen it happen, it's even happened to both Riker and Rocky!"

I roll my eyes as a tear rolls down my cheek. "Whatever. Prove it that you wanted it to be me." I turn around and storm off before he can respond. I hear someone following me, "Go away, Austin!"

"It's not Austin, Ally. It's me," I recognize Rydel's voice and pause so she can catch up to me. "You know it does happen."

"Yeah I do, but, I don't know. I just feel really hurt, can I bunker with you tonight?"

"Sure, I'll hail a taxi. There's an extra bed in my room 'cause I'm the only girl, well other than, you but all the R-boys have to share a room."

"Thanks, Rydel," I give her a hug. Even though the taxi isn't nice, the seats are torn in places, something strong smelling spilled and the driver is gruff, I'm glad Rydel didn't have me ride in a limo. I like having a piece of normal; these are the conditions most people ride in.

"So what time does your flight leave, Ally?" Rydel asks me.

"Six tomorrow evening. What about you?"

"We don't leave for another two days."

"Oh, ok." We stop at the hotel Austin and I were staying at first, I run in and grab my bag, unfortunately, I bump into Lisa and Abby on the way out.

"Oh my gosh, Ally! Are you ok? We were slow leaving and we heard shouting from backstage!"They yell together.

"Um, yeah. Aus-Ross and I had a fight. Bye." I hurry past, not wanting to discuss it.

We get to the hotel where Rydel and the others are staying and we go up to her room. I change into my sleep-ware and I can't help wanting to wear Austin's hoodie. It's late and I've had a long day so after saying good night to Rydel I crash.

**A/N**

**Austin and Ally got in a fight! 0_0 This one was really long and took a while to write so I hope you guys liked it! Please review, follow or favorite! Thanks! :)**

***Idk if this a real phone number, but don't call it.**

**~Maggie**


	7. Austin Post Fight

**A/N**

**This one's in Austin's POV. **

**Thank you thefarley and LoveShipper for your reviews and sillybilly4eva, vanessar5, joyjoybabii, Misa-Chan rocks and RossLynchForever for your follows. Oh, and R5RossLynch29, if your reading this, thanks for checking it out!**

**Disclaimer: Between this chapter and the last one I did not gain ownership of Austin and Ally, therefore, I still own nothing except the plotline and stuff I made up.**

"Whatever. Prove it that you wanted it to be me," Ally says and then storms off. I start to go after her but Rydel scowls at me and follows her instead. I turn to the guys; they're all standing there, looking awkward. _How am I gonna prove it to Ally?_

Riker comes up to me and puts his arm around my shoulders, "Well, Ross, that went well don't you think?" I am in no mood for his joking and I shrug his arm off.

"No, I don't," I reply, my face stony. "I have to show her that I really did want it to be her and I couldn't do anything."

"Yeah. You should do something romantic, take her to dinner or something," Rocky inputs.

"I know what to do. I'll have to wait until we go back to Miami though, I heard from Trish that we're going camping and I've been there before so it'll be perfect," I tell them.

"Am I the only one here who's totally lost and curious to what Ross'll do?" Ratliff asks. The others murmur their agreement to curiosity.

"I'll propose." I state simply. The guys have amused smirks, but then their eyes widen and they look completely shocked when they realized I've never been more serious in my life.

"You-you're not kidding," Ryland states, breaking the surprised silence.

"No, I'm not."

"But you guys met like five days ago!" Riker argues. He's just got engaged a few months ago to a girl he was friends with for years before dating for her for three more.

"I know but I feel like we have a connection and she's even dropped a hint." She _did _drop a hint I mean,_ "You can still be my first kiss Austin, just in another time in another place," _seems pretty obvious to me.

"Ok, dude. Do whatever you think's best. The worst that could happen is she'll reject you and you'll lose a thousand or so dollars on a ring," Riker says laughingly, always the one who goes against the general mood of the situation. I shake my head.

"Gee thanks, Riker."

"Yup."

"Well, bye, guys, see ya later."

"Bye, Dude."

I ride in the limo back to the hotel. The driver doesn't comment on Ally not being with me and his poker face is perfect so I can't tell if he finds it odd. I got used to riding with her quickly and don't like not. I open the room door and go in, "Als? I'm really sorry," I call out. I get no response. "Ally!?" I check her room and her stuff is gone. Did she run away? Find another hotel? Get an earlier flight? I remember that Ally is very reasonable and wouldn't be wandering Chicago streets at night and she doesn't have that much money. First I text Ally and then I call her, when she doesn't respond or pick up, I call Rydel, mostly sure that Ally's with her and if she's not, I'll have a panic attack.

"Hey, Ross, what do you want?" Rydel answers the phone.

"Is Ally with you?"

"Yeah, why do you care?" Rydel and Ally must have become best buds or something so that she sounds like this.

"I just need to make sure she's safe. I came back figuring you just brought her here and all her stuff was gone and there was no note or anything." Relief is evident in my voice, even I can hear it.

"Oh. I knew that what happened on stage couldn't have been stopped but I didn't know if you really cared about her. It seems you do." Her tone is much nicer now.

"Thanks."

"Yeah, you know she cares a lot about you too. She fell asleep in a purple hoodie that is much too big to be hers; I'm guessing it's yours. She's also whispering your name in her sleep."

"Wow. That's a confidence booster. And yeah, it is mine. You know how she told me to prove my care?"

"Basically, yeah."

"Well, I figured out how."

"How?"

"I'll tell you if you promise not to tell Ally or freak out."

"Ok, I promise but I'm scared now."

"Well, I'm gonna propose to her."

"Eeeeee! Oh my gosh, when?"

"When we go on a camping trip I'm not supposed to know about."

"Sweet. Well, I gotta go to sleep, and so do you; you're shopping tomorrow."

"Yup, 'night, Rydel."

"'Night, Ross." I go to my room and fall asleep thinking about Ally.

**-Line Break-**

**Morning after fight-Austin**

I stretch awake, sunlight shining through the window I forgot to close last night. I can hear the sounds of traffic below. At first I'm sad thinking of Ally's and my fight last night until I remember my plans for today. I check my phone, 8:00, perfect. I Google a good jewelry shop, the best one I find is rated 4.8 stars with 89,736 reviews, it's called Rosalind's Finest. Before I go though, I work out at the gym (there's one inside the hotel), shower and dress in my last outfit I packed; a blue, striped, sleeveless t-shirt and ripped jeans. I eat a breakfast of pancakes but it isn't the same not making them with Ally. Rosalind's isn't close so I call the limo driver to come pick me up. Just like last night, it's weird not riding around with Ally; luckily the drive is short. Unfortunately, my driver decides to ask about Ally today.

"Mr. Lynch, where is Miss Dawson? She wasn't with you last night and she's not this morning. Is something wrong?"

"She spent the night at Rydel's hotel last night. We had a small fight last night but everything will be fine." I tell him, I probably won't have him again as a driver anyway.

"That's good. Have a nice time, sir," he rolls his window up and drives away.

I walk in, the place is really nice, all glass and modern. A friendly looking lady stands behind the counter; she has slate grey hair hanging in ringlets down to her shoulders and watery blue eyes. She sizes me up; I must look odd, in my casual clothes, walking into the highest rated, most expensive jewelry store in Chicago. "Hello, what can I help you with today?" she smiles, it's a smile like when your awesome grandma comes out with a plate of freshly baked cookies and smiles at you, urging you to take one.

"I'd like to buy a necklace and an engagement ring."

"Ahh, what does the lucky lady like?"

"She loves music. I was thinking maybe a silver treble cleft on a chain for the necklace."

"That sounds pretty, dear. Maybe you can find it over there." She says pointing to a glass case.

"Thank you, I might come back for help with the ring." I walk over to the case and find just what I was looking for; it even has a little crystal in the center at the end of the swirl. I wander around, looking at rings, but nothing hits me. I'm about to despair when I see the perfect one. It's beautiful, just like my Als. It has small sapphires going around the front of the band, wave like parts loop around the main band to hold a medium sized diamond, what's not a gem is made of white gold. Ally might argue it's too much but I'm sure she'll love it.

"Did you find what you needed, dear?" The lady, I look at her name tag; Julia asks.

"Yes, thank you." I hand her the necklace and show her which ring I picked so she can take it out of the case.

"May I ask her name?"

"It's Ally."

"That's a sweet name, dear. I'm sure she's lucky to have you." Julia says as she retrieves the ring. I pass over my credit card. _Please don't ask how long we've known each other, it makes this awkward. Don't ask how long we've known each other,_ I chant in my head. "How long have you guys known each other?" she asks me. _Aw, c'mon!_

"Um, six days," I mumble.

"What was that, dear? Sorry, my hearing is going out with age." She laughs.

I see no way to get around this, "I said six days."

"Oh, that's not long. Are you sure you want to buy these?" she asks. I sigh inwardly, _no, I came here to find the perfect jewelry fully knowing I've only known Ally for six days and don't want to buy them. That was sarcasm if you couldn't tell._

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Ok then, dear." She rings my items up and hands them to me in a bag. "Thank you for shopping at Rosalind's Finest! Have a nice day, dear!" Julia smiles and looks down at her computer. I leave the store pleased, despite the weirdness with how long we've known each other I'm really excited by what I bought for Ally. I hear my phone go off; it's a text from Rydel.

**Hey, Austin.**

_Hey Rydel, what's up?_

**The sky. **

_Dry sarcasm, that's the best!_

**Your sarcasm isn't much better.**

_Touché._

**Anyway, Ally has all her stuff packed and is still planning on leaving on the plane with you at six. Is that alright?**

_Yes! _

_Why can't she contact me herself?_

**Her phone died and she's too lazy to dig her charger out of her suitcase.**

_Oh, ok. How will she be getting to the airport?_

**She says she'll meet you outside your hotel at four. Where are you now?**

_Just got done 'shopping'; waiting for the limo to pick me up._

**Oooh! What'd you get?**

_A ring._

**Duh. Specifics please.**

_It's hard to describe. You'll just have to see when she gets it._

**Hmph. So are you giving it to her today?**

_No, but I'm sure she'll send you a picture. I got her a necklace to give to her today; it has a silver treble cleft. I'll tell her the rest of her present will come later._

**Ah, cool. **I look up; my limo has pulled up in front of me. I hop in and we drive back to the hotel. I check the time, it's only eleven; I have five hours to burn before Ally gets here. I might as well make sure my suitcase is in order while I'm here. I go up to the room and check my bags; everything fits and is ready to go. I sit on my bed and pull out my guitar.

I sing, thinking of Ally.

_Oh, girl and then I met you_

_Opened my eyes to somethin' new_

_You know you set me free like no one else_

_And got me actin' a fool_

_Don't you know you changed my life?_

_Girl 'cause now I'm living,_

_And it feels so right, yeahh_

_You got my heart beat pumpin'_

_And it's goin' insane,_

_You got me jumpin' outta areoplanes whoa,_

_And that's why_

_I'm crazy it's true, _

_Crazy for you._

I sigh. I sure hope Ally likes the presents I got her. I hear a knock on my door; I wonder who it could be? When I answer it, Rocky, Ryland, Ratliff and Riker are there. Ryland isn't part of the actual band but since he's their little bro and our manager he usually hangs out with us.

"Whatcha doing Ross?" Ratliff asks me. They've made themselves comfortable in the living room.

"Nothin'. Ally and I visited the navy pier yesterday and I don't know what to do today until it's time for us to leave."

"We were thinkin' of going to the arcade. Wanna come? I heard some of the newer games are played on 72" flat screen TVs!"

"Awesome! I'll come!" We walk to the arcade; inside, the guy we pay for the currency to play games gives us a funny look. Yeah, we're a group of five, twenty plus year olds going to the arcade, don't judge. We play Rock Band, Modern Warfare 3, Smash Bros Brawl and Titianfall for hours on the awesome TV screens.

"What time do you have to leave?" Riker asks in between games.

"Plane leaves at six and I have to meet Ally in front of my hotel at four."

"It's 3:45; we'd better go," he tells me.

"Yeah, c'mon guys."

"Comin' we're out of arcade coins anyway." We leave the arcade and arrive just in time to see Ally getting out of a taxi with Rydel. They turn and see us, Rydel smiles and Ally does too, kind of.

**A/N**

**And you'll have to see what Ally thinks of her presents in the next chapter! Sorry if you felt it went too fast but Austin asking Ally to marry him is what came to me so that's what I wrote. The R5 members are most likely out of character but I don't know much about their real life personalities so I just went with what fit for the story.**

**The URL to where I got the idea for the ring if you can't picture it is at the bottom of my profile.(just copy and paste it)  
**

**Should I have more chapters or sections in Austin's POV? Please follow, favorite, review or all three! :) **

**~Maggie**


	8. Fear and Reconciliation

**A/N**

**I'll be doing special thank yous as well as the normal recognitions this chapter. Thank you, JustForgetMeNot for being my 30****th**** follower and thank you, toritwilight504 for being the 20****th**** person to favorite! Thank you, LoveShipper, LimoLuzie, RayRayWife143 and anonymous guest for your reviews!**

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but there's been school and I've recently become slightly addicted to this anime called Fairy Tail so I've been watching that…**

**Disclaimer: Guess what I'm gonna tell you all? I DON'T OWN ANYTHING EXCEPT THE PLOTLINE. (This really gets old after a while doesn't it...)**

**Morning after fight-Ally**

"_Austin! How could you?" I practically scream not even caring that I didn't call him by his band name. I raise my hand and slap it across his cheek._

"_Ow! It only lasted like five seconds! Why are you being like this?!"He says, holding his cheek that is now a bright red._

"_And when she whispered in your ear-" my eyes tear up. I bet she whispered something seductive or her phone number, or both!_

_Austin cuts in, "She told me it was a dare!"_

"_Then why didn't you push her away!?"_

"_She would have fallen off the stage!"He sounds exasperated like he's explaining to a child._

"_So you kiss her back," I deadpan._

"_Yeah. It was a lot of fun you know; maybe we should break up so I can kiss girls. You don't seem to want to kiss. Guess what? I am breaking up with you, right now. By the way, the only reason I started dating you was so I could get my first kiss, you have no idea how embarrassing it is to be a 24 year old pop star that looks like me who hasn't."He doesn't even look angry; just bored._

"_Au-Austin, h-how c-could…w-why?" I sob, tears streaming down my face. He's chuckling at my weeping. _

"_Leave, we're over," he says and turns away from me._

"AUSTIN, NO!" I yell as I sit up. My face is wet and so is my pillow. Rydel comes in and sees me sitting up in bed, panting and tears still rolling down my cheeks; one drips off the tip of my nose.

She sits down next to me, "What was it, Ally?"

"W-we were fighting, just like last night but he told me," I take a deep breath, "he told me that he enjoyed the kiss with the girl who jumped on stage. And then he broke up with me and told me he just dated me to get his first kiss."

"Oh, Ally; Austin wouldn't do that to you. He cares about you," Rydel tells me rubbing small circles on my back. I hiccup, my tears and breathing gradually slowing.

"Th-thanks Rydel. I didn't wake you did I?"

"No, I was up practicing."

"You have a keyboard here?"

"Yeah, do you want to play it?"

"I started writing a song back in Miami and although it doesn't completely fit the situation, I think I just got the last of the lyrics. It kind of goes with my dream though. Want to hear it?"I ask ignoring the fact that I'll have to perform.

"Oh yes, but don't you want to go back to sleep?"

"Not really, I don't think I can."

"Ok. It's right over here." Rydel says leading me through her suite to her room where there's an electronic keyboard in the corner. I walk over to it and play a few notes to learn the sound of the keyboard before starting.

_I'm a wreck and I know it, _

_And I tend to show it every chance that I get._

_Butterflies in the skies, they just fly on by._

_Yeah they're making me sick._

_They don't flutter about, I'd do without._

_All they do is kick._

_Mean it truly,_

_Sincere heart._

_Why do you do this to me?_

_Tear me apart._

_It's my fault and I know it,_

_And I tend to blow it, no thanks to you._

_It's like you sit and you watch me,_

_You poke and you taunt me, it's all that you do._

_And I'm not fighting that no, not at all._

_Just wanting to be something, a name you call._

_The lips you taste just to fall, madly in love._

_Mean it truly,_

_Sincere heart._

_Why do you do this to me?_

_Tear me apart._

_I got my eyes set on you,_

_My hear it's burning red._

_All of my words come out wrong, _

_Run circles in my head._

_You had me and I melted,_

_In the palm of your hand._

_You know it yes I felt it,_

_You'll never understand._

_Mean it truly,_

_Sincere heart._

_Why do you do this to me?_

_Tear me apart._

I get lost in my song, forgetting that Rydel is watching until I end and hear her clapping. I immediately blush and sit down on her bed next to her.

"That was amazing, Ally! I can't believe you haven't performed before!" she says excitedly.

"Thanks, Rydel," I murmur, embarrassed.

"Oh, don't be so shy, Ally! What are you afraid of?"

"Well, if you really want to know, I feel like I can tell you even though I've never told anyone else." Rydel nods, urging me on. "When I was sixteen, I was trying out to get into MUNY; Music University of New York. The assessor was really strict; as lots of talented musicians went before me and he failed them all I got more and more nervous. Finally, it was my turn, I sat down at the piano, but then everyone was staring at me and I imagined that the piano had teeth and it was biting my fingers. I freaked out, screaming and jumping away from the piano. The assessor failed me and everyone left in line laughed. I don't want to fail again; don't want to be laughed at, so I don't perform," I finish.

"Wow. You know, you can only fail so many times though before you succeed. You are an incredibly talented singer and songwriter, Ally, I think you should try again sometime," she tells me.

"I just performed for you so that's a start I guess. Thanks for your support and advice, Rydel. I'll be right back; I have to go to the bathroom."

"No prob, Ally. 'Kay, I'll be sitting here," she laughs.

When I get back I bring her back from her thoughts, "Rydel, I figured out why I was so over emotional last night even though I knew that sometimes stuff like that happens."

"Why?"

"It was PMS… Now I feel really bad for yelling at Austin. I hope he forgives me."

"Oh, he will. Don't worry Ally. Hey, want to go to a coffee shop?"

"Sure." I get up and go to my room to shower and change. I enjoy the warm water spraying me and carefully untangle my hair, when I'm done I get out, dry myself with a big, fluffy, white towel and get into my last outfit, a blue tank-top with sparkles and white skinny jeans. I meet Rydel in the lobby; she's wearing a grey tank-top with a black swirly thing on it, a black leather jacket, black skinny jeans and hot pink heels.

"We're quite the pair aren't we?" I ask her.

"Indeed. Let's go to this place I found when we were touring here before, it's called Coffee Corner."

"Ok." We walk since it isn't far; it's this cute little place with a brown and pink striped awning on the corner of 107th and Harrington. Good smells waft out from it as we go in. There are a few people in it, an older couple sitting in a corner, a girl around my age sitting with four or five teenage girls by the windows.

"Hello, welcome to Coffee Corner, how may I help you?" the tall man asks from behind the counter. His dark eyes and beak-like nose remind me of a crow.

Rydel orders while I look at the menu, "I'll have a grande cinnamon dolce latte with extra whipped cream and an apple fritter please."

"Um, I'll have a tall salted caramel mocha with an extra shot of caramel and a cranberry orange scone please," I tell him.

"I'll have those right up for you. Whose name are they under?"

"Rydel," she says, passing him her credit card.

"Ok, thank you. You may take a seat for now and just come get them when your name is called." We go sit down at a little table near the front window, looking out onto the street. After a little bit, Rydel gets up and grabs the drinks; we sip them and chat for a while. We fall quiet and I look out the window, watching people go by and wondering what Austin is doing. I look back at Rydel and she has her phone out.

"What're you doing, Rydel?"

"Texting Ross, er, Austin I suppose."

"Please tell him I'm all packed and am planning to go on the plane with him. I packed my charger earlier thinking I had enough energy left in my phone. It's buried under all my stuff and my phone just died."

"Sure. Do you want me to tell him you're sorry?"

"No, I'll tell him later when I see him. It just wouldn't be the same if it were over text and from you."

"Ok. He asked how you'll get to the airport."

"I'll meet him with my stuff in front of our hotel at four."

"Cool, just told him that." Rydel continues to text Austin for a little before putting her phone down. By now our baked goods and drinks are gone.

"What now?" I ask.

"Ooh, let's go shopping! I'll pay," Rydel suggests.

"Ok. I can pay for whatever I buy if you like though."

"Nah, it's fine, Ally, it'll be my treat." That decided, I follow her out of Coffee Corner, she doesn't signal a taxi and is walking quickly so I have to hurry to catch up. After about ten minutes of speedy walking we reach an area that is obviously the mall. Going shopping with Rydel is a lot like shopping like Trish; it's crazy. Rydel pulls me into stores, tries on stuff while I skim the isles, buys some of her items and then it's onto the next store. In one, Rydel has to slow down to take a breather. I get to look around more in that store and find this cute, turquoise dress with black horizontal stripes and a heart belt buckle. Rydel convinces me to buy a brown leather vest, she really wanted me to get the black one but it's not really my style. By the time we're done I still only have the bag with the dress and vest while Rydel has four bags in each hand.

"Whew. I think we should call the limo so you can put down all your stuff," I tell Rydel.

"That sounds good. I have a good grip on all of these so could you grab my phone, it's in my back pocket. Write a new message to the one that says Eric and then limo driver in parentheses. Tell him to come pick us up and we'll be waiting for him near the south entrance."

"Ok done. I thought we had different limos, but I guess not."

"Nope, which is why we're usually somewhere before you and Austin."

"Hm." We sit there for a little while until the limo pulls up. We get in and drive to Rydel's hotel. She drops off her bags and I manage to stuff the items I bought into my suitcase, but have to sit on it and have Rydel help me push it down. "Will you come with me to say good bye?"

"Yep, and it's time to go."

"'Kay, let's go." We decide against riding in the limo so we signal a taxi. When we get there I turn around and see Austin walking back with Rocky, Ryland, Riker and Ratliff. We make eye contact and I smile, but I'm a little nervous so it's not a huge one. He comes up to us but stands about two feet away from me, not knowing what to do. I shatter the awkwardness and throw myself into a hug. "Austin, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have overreacted like that. You don't need to prove it anymore; I believe you."

Austin's strong arms hold me close. "I'm sorry too, Als. I don't know what I could've done but if there was anything to be done I should have done it. And I'm sorry I yelled at you. Thank you, but I want to now. In fact, I got you this," he says releasing me a bit so he can hold up a beautiful silver necklace in the shape of a treble clef.

"Austin! Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome, Als. Turn around so I can put it on you." Obediently I turn. He clasps the necklace around my neck, I reach up and touch it; it's so special. "I have something more for you, but I'll give it to you in Miami at just the right time."

"You didn't have to do this, Austin."

"Yes, I did." I turn back around to face him. I missed seeing him, even though it was only this morning that we were separated. He smiles his million dollar smile and taps my nose before kissing my forehead, "Well, we have a flight to catch so let's say our good byes." I nod.

Austin and all the guys "man hug" and then when he hugs Rydel she messes up his hair and says, "You better take good care of her Ross, or things will get messy, understood?"He nods as she and I laugh. All the guys hug me, I'm part of the R5 family now; they're the siblings I've never had.

I get down the line to Rydel, "Thank you so much, Rydel! Please keep in contact!"

She hugs me back, "Stop thanking me already, Ally, it was my pleasure." She pulls away and holds me by my shoulders, "Of course I will, girl!"

"Well, we'd better go," Austin says putting his arm around my shoulders. He leaves to grab his stuff and return the keys while I say any final good byes.

When he gets back we get in the limo and roll down our windows, "Bye!" we call to them together as we drive away.

"Bye, Ross! Bye, Ally!" There's no traffic so we don't have to rush when we get to the airport.

"Bye, Eric, thanks for driving us around all the time."

"It was my pleasure, Miss Dawson," he says and then drives off. Both hungry, we stop at the Wendy's after getting through security. I have a chicken sandwich and Austin has a hamburger, now satisfied we find our way to the terminal headed to Miami. We only have to wait around for a little while before we get onto the plane. It's kinda weird but I think it's fun walking through the hallway thing that connects the airport to the plane. We settle into our seats and the whole safety spiel starts. It gets so boring after the first time you've heard it. Once we've taken off and the TV screens turn on, Austin pays for the both of us to watch a movie. We watch this new animated one about a girl getting miniaturized and finding this world of leaf men V.S. decomposer guys called Epic. I liked it, but at the end the girl is in a weird relationship 'cause her "boyfriend" is like 2 inches tall and she's normal again, also this slug keeps hitting on her. I think Austin loved it, the way he's cheesily smiling.

"That was awesome!" he says.

"I'm glad you liked it. Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"You just did, but you can ask another. I'm listening."

"Did you like being kissed by that girl?"

He looks shocked at my question, "No. I didn't want to be kissed by her. I didn't even kiss back; she just forced herself on me."

"Would you break up with me for not being ready to kiss?"

"No, never. What makes you ask these questions?" Austin assures me, taking my hand.

"Well, I had a nightmare last night about the fight. But it's in the past; you won't do anything like that and that's all that matters."

"Ok, Als." For the rest of the flight we talk, doze or watch random shows on TV. When we land, all goes smoothly and we ride with Victor (the limo driver in Miami) back to our houses. I go with Austin to his house and sit on his bed while he unpacks. I see him take out a little black box and try to hide it from me.

"What's that, Austin?"

"Wha-what?"

I roll my eyes, "What's that black box?"

"Oh, um it's a new chain for my dog-tags. I didn't want you to see 'cause I thought you'd think it was a waste of money," he replies but he doesn't sound completely sure. His eyes dart around for a moment before resting on me again.

"You'd better not be lying to me, mister!"

"Nope! I'm just gonna put this away…" he goes into his bathroom and comes back out without it. That's an interesting place to keep a brand new chain but I'll let it go for now. After he finishes he walks over with me to my house. I unlock the door and go inside. I hear the TV going so I head to the living room to let Trish know that I'm back. I'm so astonished at what I see, I feel like my jaw has just hit the floor. Trish and Dez are sitting all cuddly on the couch watching the Notebook. I thought something was going on, but I still wasn't prepared for that.

"Als, close your mouth, you'll catch flies," Austin chuckles quietly.

I clear my throat, "Erm, so are you guys together now?" Both of them jump apart.

"NO!" Trish says.

"Yes!" Dez exclaims at the same time as Trish. She scowls at him for this and he just shrugs.

Austin and I laugh; you can't have Dez hide stuff for long. "So why were you trying to hide it?" I ask no one in particular.

Trish looks really uncomfortable at being caught red-handed and doesn't say anything. Instead, Dez speaks up, "I don't really know, Trish just told me that she really likes me, but also thinks I'm weird and doesn't want people to find out."

"So yeah, we're together. It's weird, but I like his goofiness and his ability to withstand my critiques," Trish sighs in defeat. "We're not going to be all lovey like you and Austin though, blech."

"Really?" Austin asks and raises his eyebrow. "You're snuggling on the couch, Dez is shirtless and you guys are watching a romantic movie; how is that not lovey?"

"It's just not," Trish tries to counter without any proof. I shrug, there's no way to win a fight with Trish so even if she's wrong it's best to just let it go.

"Well, 'night guys. Dez, please go home at some point _tonight_," I instruct him. Austin and I walk back to the front door.

"My parents are coming back tomorrow so I don't know how much time we can spend together."

"Eh, it's ok; I'll either hang out here or with you guys." I remember, "Oh, I have to tell you that we're going camping the day after tomorrow so be sure to rest up 'cause we just got back from traveling."

"Ok, I will. Yeah, just come over whenever. We can write music and sing or play video games or something. My parents will probably want to see you too." He hugs me and whispers in my ear, "I'm so glad we're not fighting anymore, Als."

"Me too," I whisper back. He kisses my forehead and says goodbye. I close the door behind him and go upstairs to unpack. Once I'm done I get changed into my pajamas and Austin's hoodie and go to sleep.

**A/N**

**Yay, Austin and Ally are reconciled :) Please review, follow and/or favorite and feel free to PM me if you want :)**

**~Maggie**


	9. Timeless

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plotline :P**

It feels so good just to relax. It felt like we were doing a lot for the past few days and the flights wiped me out. I've already got dressed and stuff 'cause I didn't want to feel icky, but just into a baggy graphic-t and basketball shorts. Trish got up a little earlier and went somewhere with Dez, frankly, I don't know or want to know. Deciding that I've been watching TV for long enough, I shut it off and put my cereal bowl in the dishwasher. I think I will accept Austin's invite to come over and play music and visit his parents. After grabbing my song book that no one is allowed to touch I head over.

Mimi answers the door, just like the first time I visited. "Hi, Ally! Would you like to come in?" she asks.

"Yeah, thanks, Mimi." I wonder if Austin hasn't told them about us dating yet, it was a bit quick after all and might be worried about their reaction. I sit down in their living room and Mimi comes back with a glass of water for me. "Thank you," I say as I smile.

"No problem, Ally. Austin, come down here!" she calls up the stairs.

"Mom, I'm 24, why do I need to come down?"

"You live in my house and when I'm here you will still obey me! Plus we have a guest so get your butt down here now!" She smiles at me, "Sometimes we have to be a little clearer with Austin." I nod. I hear loud thudding on the stairs as Austin comes down.

"Hey, Ally," Austin says as he sits down on a chair. He draws out the "l" in Ally, trying not to say Als.

"Make friends, she's a very nice girl Austin." Mimi walks out of the room to do something.

"She'll be awhile, she winked at me so I think she's trying to get us together," Austin tells me. He comes, sits next to me on the couch and puts his arm around me.

"Why haven't you told them?" I ask, curious.

"They just got here this morning and there hasn't been a very good time yet. I stayed up late last night making sure everything was clean so that when they got home there wouldn't be anything to bug me about and that made me sleep in. In fact, I woke up with them above my bed and my mom saying, 'Good morning Austy! We're home!' She still thinks I'm a little kid and if I told her she'd start freaking out about that her 'little boy is all grown up'. Once she recovered from that she'd plan our wedding and her grandchildren and every other possible detail of any future we'd have," he explains, running a hand through his already messy hair.

"Oh, ok. I agree on the not telling them yet then, but we'll have to deal with your mom trying to get us to like each other and we can't act like we're dating around her."

"Yeah," Austin sighs, and then notices my song book. "Hey, what's that?"

"My song book. I thought since I managed to show Rydel one of my songs, I could write or sing with you today."

"Oooh! Lemme see!" Austin reaches out to try and grab it; he manages to touch it, but I pull away.

"Don't touch my book!"

Austin pouts, "Aww, c'mon, Als! Why not?"

"'Cause it's my book and I won't let you."

"You won't let me, will you?" he asks, pout turning into a mischievous grin. Before I can react he starts tickling me. I could have not been ticklish and his plan failed miserably, but unfortunately, I am extremely ticklish.

"Ahhhhh!" I scream and drop my book. "Stop…it…Austin! I…can't…breath! HAHAHAH!" Austin's laughing as hard as I am. He stops momentarily to let me catch my breath and while I do, he snags my book and sits on it so I can't get it! "Au-hahahahah! D-don't…touch my book!" Austin continues to tickle me and laugh. I'm squealing and trying to talk the entire time, "If you…stop, I'll…let you…look at my book…even though…you already have it!"

Finally he stops, "Good. Thank you, Als." I roll my eyes; this boy! "Let's go up to my room, I have my guitar in there and maybe something you can play."

"Fine," I say and go up the stairs ahead of him.

"Hey, don't be so put out at your ticklishness!" I get into his room, even though I've been here before I didn't notice all the instruments. There are at least five guitars on the walls not to mention the acoustic one he usually uses that is sitting on his bed, a drum set sitting in the corner with an electric keyboard similar to Rydel's.

"You have a lot of instruments; can you play all of them?" I ask as Austin steps in behind me.

"Yup, I can play most instruments including the violin, tuba, a trumpet through another trumpet, aeolian harp and the theremin which was one of the first fully electronic instruments."

"Impressive. I can just play the piano, violin, flute and guitar," I tell him as I move the keyboard so it's not in the corner anymore. He's flipping through my songbook, pausing every once in a while to read something.

"That's a lot too. Wow, you are an awesome song writer, Als! Some of it's kinda depressing, but I like almost all of it. Can you help me write a new song? Maybe we could perform it together or at least write it as a duet."

"Thanks, Austin," I answer, choosing to ignore the fact that he called some of my songs 'depressing'. "Sure, but don't you write your own songs?"

"Yeah, but I'd still like to write a song with you. We could just do it for fun if you prefer."

"Ok. So what kind of sound do you want?"

"Something fun, and cool, but can still have meaning."I nod.

"How would you approach this?" I ask. He gives me a look communicating that he wants me to be the main songwriter here. I lay on my back on his bed which smells surprisingly clean. "I'm just curious and want to know more about your style as well."

"Fine. Well, I always think about strong emotions to influence my songs. You know, happiness, sadness, hate, etc." I nod and he continues, "What's the last strong emotion you felt?"

"Love," slips out. I blush furiously and so does Austin. I feel like we've been avoiding the four letter word because we don't know how the other really feels; I'm still confused to how I feel. I don't know if it's love, but I'm almost always happy with Austin, I get this warm, jittery feeling in my stomach and there's an electric current every time we touch. I can't be in love though can I? I remember Austin saying something about him being in love with me and here comes forever, but I don't know for sure. Maybe in my subconscious I love him?

"R-really?" Austin asks.

"Uh, yeah. When I saw that beautifully made acoustic guitar hanging on your wall I thought, 'I really love that guitar.'" I try to cover up my fumble, but what's already been said can't be undone and I'm a terrible liar. I'll have to unravel my feelings later. Austin runs his hand through his hair and then rubs the back of his neck; I've noticed he performs these habits when he's nervous.

I can tell Austin knows it was a sad excuse for a cover up, but he goes with it, blush decreasing slightly, "Ok… Let's go with love then. What do think's great about love, Als?

"Real love doesn't end, it just keeps going, it's timeless. Oh, I got it!" I snatch my book back from Austin and scribble the lyrics I thought of into it. He leans over my shoulder to see but I turn so he can't see.

"Hey! Let me see!"

"Hmmm, no. Don't touch my book!"

"Pwitty pwitty pwease, Als?" he asks in a baby voice, his adorableness makes me relent.

"Fine." I roll back over and let him look.

"This love is never gonna fade, we are timeless, we are timeless. My heart will never ever change, we are timeless, we are timeless, and we're gonna last. Hm, that's a cool start, we'll use that as the chorus."

"Ok, cool." We get up and I stand by the keyboard while Austin grabs his guitar.

"What about this?" Austin asks and plays some chords; I nod happily and start playing a melody. Austin gets into it and starts singing lyrics he's making up on the spot, "Every day, day, day, I fall for you a little mo-o-ore. And every night, night, night, I dream of you so beautifu-u-ul. Yeah-eh."

I sing along, filling in lines as well, "Every time we laugh, I see sparks fly."

"And every time you blush, I feel those butterflies," Austin sings and I see his face turn a little pink.

Together we sing, "And baby how we feel, will always be in sty-yle. Forever and ever… This love is never gonna fade, we are timeless, we are timeless. My heart will never ever change, we are timeless, we are timeless, and we're gonna last! Our love will always feel this way, we are timeless… We are timeless…" We play a last few notes and then finish. I smile and hurriedly write down the notes and lyrics in my book so I don't forget them.

"And that is how you write a song!" We high-five; both ecstatic at how well we worked together. "That was awesome!"

"Hey, Als, you know what's great about music?" Austin asks out of the blue.

Yeah, there are a lot of things that are great about music, but don't know what he's talking about, "What?"

"That the lyrics come from the heart. The lyrics that I came up with are true," he tells me, smiling.

"Ye-yeah. Me too," I feel my cheeks heat once again and Austin smiles even wider. We sit back down on his bed, our hips touching. I let him look as I flip through my book; I want to show him something that I drew. My book is very multifunctional; I use it as a diary, song book, and drawing journal. I'm about to show him the song I wrote and then played for Rydel when there's a knock at his door.

"Austin, are you in there?" It's Mimi, what are we gonna do? I sure hope Austin has a good excuse for me being in his room since she doesn't know about us.

"Yeah, come on in."

"Hey, did Ally go home, I didn't see her downstairs." Mimi notices me in the room, "Ally, what are you doing here, in Austin's room?"

"Uhhh…." I don't know what to say, we're both standing awkwardly because when she opened the door we jumped up from the bed.

"I wanted to show Ally my guitars. She likes music too," Austin says, rescuing me from answering.

"Why couldn't you just bring one down?" Mimi asks suspiciously, a mischievous glint in her eyes. Ok, WE WERE NOT DOING ANYTHING AND WE WON'T BE, WHY DOES SHE HAVE TO ASSUME THAT?

"'Cause then I'd have to go upstairs, grab the guitar, bring it down and show her, and then go back upstairs," knowing this is something Austin would complain about, Mimi buys it.

"Well, ok, I believe you. I just came up to ask if you knew where Ally was and to tell you dinner is ready. We found Ally so how 'bout you two come on down now? Dez and Trish also came by and they're joining us," Mimi informs us as she walks out. Austin and I follow her downstairs, ready to eat. I didn't realize how long we spent up in his room. Dez, Trish, Mike and Mimi are all seated when we arrive downstairs and the only two seats left are side-by-side for Austin and me. I don't mind, but what is with this woman? Mimi is really nice, but the way she's obviously trying to set Austin and me up is kinda weird and creepy.

We sit down and dig into dinner; it's pasta coated in that creamy white sauce with tuna and peas mixed in. Austin keeps discreetly poking me in the side and I have to suppress my giggles. Finally, I playfully swat his hand away and kick him under the table to get him to stop. Dez and Trish tell us about their day; apparently they had to take Mr. Carrot-skiddilywhiffers to a llama farm, but Dez can visit whenever he wants. Dez, for some idiotic reason, decided to ride Mr. C, he didn't even get a chance to get on before Mr. C kicked and spit on him. Trish just watched from the sidelines, laughing, I'm sure. That story explains the black eye and purple bruise Dez has on his arm. Mike tells us about his day at the office and how some lady can't get his coffee right, who knew he was that petty? I nudge Austin's arm and cough out the word, "Camping," to remind him he still needs to tell them 'cause even though he's an adult he basically house sits for his parents and they should know if he's leaving.

Austin nods his head in recognition, "Mom, we're going camping tomorrow so I just thought I'd let you know that I won't be here for a few days."

"Ok, your father and I want to take a break after that long business trip anyway so we'll just stay here." Once everyone is done with their food, we clear our places and put our dishes in the dishwasher. Mike invites us to stay a little longer to watch a movie, we accept and then there's a whole dispute over what movie to watch. Eventually we settle on watching Now You See Me, it's about magicians or something. Mimi and Mike sit in the love seat together and somehow Dez and Trish manage to take up the entire couch so Austin and I are left sitting on the floor, leaning on the couch. We sit about a foot apart and it feels very uncomfortable, I wish I could scoot close to him and rest my head on his shoulder, but we're not telling Mimi so I can't do that.

The movie was very interesting, I thought it was brilliant how one of the guys came up with this whole mastermind plan and managed to have it orchestrated perfectly. Dez and Trish leave, claiming tiredness even though it's only ten and I know Trish can stay up way later than that. It was a nice, calm day, but I have to get up early tomorrow morning to pack so soon after Trish and Dez leave I get up to go as well.

"Thank you for having me, Mike and Mimi," I say getting up.

"Any time, Ally," Mimi smiles.

Austin gets up too, "I'll walk her to the door." He steps outside with me, the cool night air brushing our cheeks. A lawnmower is going a few houses down, I don't know why the guy that lives there likes to mow his lawn at night, but after a while the noise actually becomes soothing. Austin looks down at me and then gently kisses my forehead. "Good night, Als. See ya tomorrow."

I hug him tightly, "Good night, Austin."

As I cross the street I hear him singing some of the song from earlier, but not loud enough for his parents who are inside to hear, "And every night, night, night, I dream of you so beautifu-uh-ul. Every time we laugh, I see the sparks fly. Every time you blush, I feel those butterflies…"

Changed and laying in my bed, I decide now might be a good time to tackle my feelings for Austin. I Google, "Define love" on my phone. The definition it gives me is, "an intense feeling of deep affection." I love being around Austin. I love his laugh and his messy blonde hair. I love the way he makes me smile, the meaning behind his songs despite the popular sounding upbeat style and his childishness. I love his adoration for pancakes and coloring books. I love the way his chestnut eyes make me feel like my heart is melting every time I look into them. I love the warmth of his lips when he kisses my cheek or forehead. Doesn't love usually take a while of knowing each other though? How could I love someone I essentially just met? How can I love someone this quickly, how could I have let myself fall? Ever since my mom died my heart has had a protective wall placed around it, making me even fall way from relationship with my dad, but Austin made it crumble. My doubts are crushed at that; Austin broke down the wall I worked so hard to create, not letting anyone get close. I would be friendly in memory of my mom, but I was usually a quiet, hard working, business cool and professional. Austin got close, Austin got to my heart, Austin made me love him. I love Austin Moon. I love Austin Moon. I fall asleep as those four words swirl and repeat in my mind.

**A/N**

**Ally admitted to herself that she loves Austin! I hope you enjoyed! Please follow, favorite and/or review; I really love receiving them. If you already have, or do the previous three often, thank you for your continued support! :) **

**~Maggie**


	10. Going Camping

**A/N**

**Double digits, YEAH! Thank you LimoLuzi, izzyTod, LoveShipper, ally2214, tephriam and phia514 for your reviews on this chapter! Sorry I forgot to do these on my last chapter, but thank you to anyone who reviewed and followed it, yay I hit 40 follows! I hope you enjoy :)**

**Disclaimer: Guess what? I own Austin and Ally now. Psych (as in s-ike) I don't own 'em. :P**

I stretch and open my eyes slowly and then I remember that I need to pack because we're leaving at one to go camping. I sit up completely awake now and look at the time. It's 12:30, I know my body's gotten used to sleeping in lately, but I didn't expect to sleep through my alarm!Quickly, I get out of bed, shower and change. I throw a couple casual outfits, toiletries, a few books and my swim suit into my suitcase. In another bag I stuff a first aid kit and snacks, done packing; I haul my stuff along with a sleeping bag downstairs. I leave all of my luggage near the front door while I go find my small tent. When I finally found it, I had to dig it out from under all the random items thrown messily into the shed in my backyard. I hear a car horn blaring and figure it must be my friends waiting impatiently for me. I hurry back inside and grab a granola bar and apple to eat.

Outside, I lock the house door and turn around, Trish is still hitting the horn and the noise is going to make me go crazy, "TRISH! STOP HITTING THE CAR HORN OR SO HELP ME I WILL HAVE AUSTIN HURT YOU!" This makes her stop and sit back down sulkily, next to Dez. Austin isn't bothered by my outburst and waves at me, unfortunately, at the same time, he was shoving my tent pack into the back of his truck and it falls on him. I laugh and rush over to help him up. He's laughing too, so I don't think it hurt him. Once he's up, I plant a kiss on his cheek and leave him to finish packing the trunk. I get in on the passenger's side, Trish and Dez are sitting in the back together like on the way to the zoo.

"Dez, you know we're going camping right? Do you want to get those clothes dirty?" I question him. He's wearing really bright colors like usual and every smear of dirt and dust will show, unlike with jeans, greens and browns.

"Yup. It'll be fine, I'll just clean them when I get home," Dez states. He actually sounds reasonable for once until he continues, "Besides, aren't you supposed to wear bright colors so you don't get shot?" I realize he's talking about the type of camping where you hunt. I heard that once too, something about being able to be seen by your comrades and so they don't think you're an animal and hunt you instead. I shrug, whatever, we're on the road now and I just know that if we turn around to let Dez get different clothes (if he has anything that isn't tons of crazy colors and patterns) we'd each have hold ups and it'd take forever. I look out my window for a while and watch the land go bye, listening to Dez's and Trish's mostly quiet bickering. She's ratting him out for bringing his clown shoes camping, I smile, you'd never think it, but those two go well together. Austin turns on the radio and I promptly fall asleep, this is just something that happens, whenever I have music and I'm on a long car ride.

**-Line Break-**

I gradually wake up, the music is off and the truck isn't moving anymore. "'Mornin', Als. We're stopping for lunch, none of us had much of a breakfast and if we did it was fairly early. Trish and Dez got seated at our table and sent me back out to wake you. We've been driving for about an hour so there's one and a halfish left," Austin says. He's standing next to the truck with my door open, the sunlight is shining through his hair and it looks like it's glowing.

"Ooh, good. I'm hungry." Since it's a truck, there's a pretty big drop between the edge of the floor and the ground. Austin notices my apprehension, lifts me by my waist and helps me down. I shiver at the contact, "Thanks, Austin."

He smiles, "Anything for you, Als." I smile back and take his hand as we walk into the restaurant which is this little burger joint. We find our way over to Trish and Dez who are sitting a booth in the corner. The restaurant is decorated with a bunch of old metal hamburger signs and motorcycle things; this would be a cool place to play I-spy. Just as I'm about to start a game, a pretty brunette waitress wearing a tight, black, too short dress and leather jacket comes over to take our orders. Both the boys' eyes widen and a slight blush appears on their cheeks. I scowl and see Trish do the same; we make eye-contact and agree that after the waitress leaves they will receive their punishment. In the meantime, we order. I get a home-style buttermilk chicken sandwich, Trish a classic cheeseburger, Dez a bacon wrapped burger with mayo, mustard, spicy sauce and bleu cheese, and Austin a double cheeseburger. I forgot to order extra pickles, luckily Austin remembers to; he smiles and winks at me, I smile back, but he's not getting off that easily.

When Lucy, (the waitress) leaves Trish and I confront the boys, "Austin, you naughty boy!"

"Dez, don't let me catch you lookin' at other girls again!" Both Austin and Dez look worried and put their hands up as if surrendering.

"Sorry, Als, I really like you and nothing's gonna change that. I am a guy and when a girl's flaunting like that it's hard not to look. I am sorry though, I won't let it faze me again," Austin apologizes, I nod accepting it. I understand that her outfit was very provocative. Trish isn't nearly as forgiving as I am.

"I'm sorry, Babe! She just looked cute in that outfit and it caught my attention!" Dez is much worse at calming a situation than Austin is. His face is turning the same color of his hair as Trish yells at him, but not loud enough to attract attention.

"Cute, huh?" She smacks his head and he cringes, "So how would you describe how I look?" Dez looks over her black jeggings, camo t-shirt and black, curly hair barely contained in a pony tail.

I can tell she's starting to get impatient when he answers, "You look smoking hot." This makes Trish smirk and she lunges for him. I turn away, I know that evil smirk well enough to mean that she's gonna do something I don't want to see or beat Dez to a pulp. I don't hear Dez getting hit so it must be the other option. I don't even like watching people kiss in movies, in person is worse; I hated walking down the halls in high-school having to avoid the couples creating road-blocks.

Austin faces me, a look of disgust also on his face, "Ew, those two should get a room." He glances back, "They're done, Als, you can look again." I face the table; both Dez and Trish look almost giddy. Fortunately, before they can do anything else, the food comes.

Unfortunately, Lucy comes with the food, "Here ya go, Freckles, I even brought you a soda, it's on the house," she hands Dez his food and Trish scowls. Dez isn't checking out her anymore though and this makes her pout slightly before turning her huge, completely fake smile onto Austin, "I hope you enjoy the root-beer float I got for you, Blondie, it's also on the house." The fact that his plate is piled with pickles way more than usual when you ask for extra and the free float get on my nerves even though I get more pickles, does this chick do this to every guy she thinks is cute that comes through here?

"Thanks, Lucy. Now can my girlfriend and her best-friend have their food please?" Austin says and then smiles at me.

Lucy looks really put out now, but she gives Trish and me our food before flirting with Austin again. "Blondie, wouldn't you rather have me than her?" she asks. She shrugs off her jacket revealing that her dress is strapless and hardly holding her cleavage in. She has a tattoo of some bird under her collar bone. I have to look away and gag, I think it's just gross when girls try that hard and not wear clothing that doesn't cover enough.

Austin looks really awkward and a blush is creeping up his neck. I know it isn't a nice blush like he gets when we flirt, it's the "Oh, my gosh get out of my face this is so uncomfortable!" blush. She _is_ practically in his face though…

"Um, no. I am very happy with Ally, thank you. Go wait on some other table while we eat please." I smile, Austin is so awesome.

Lucy sticks her lip out further and flutters her eyes, "Fine, but can I have a kiss pleeeeese?" She starts getting even closer to my Austin and I'm ready to go Angry Ally on her.

"No," Austin says strongly. "Leave us alone and get us a different waiter until we go or I'll talk to your boss about your sexual harrassment and flirting with his customer's while working, and while their girlfriends were sitting right next to them no less!" Lucy looks shocked and backs away. She nods and runs off. We finish up our meal, and a new waiter comes and we pay him. As we get up to go, Austin scribbles a note and hands it to the waiter.

"What was the note?" Dez asks.

"Because she left us alone I just told the boss that she was flirting while working and it was very unprofessional. That might just get her a warning, instead of a lawsuit," Austin replies casually. I nod, understanding, he still thought she should get some reprimand, but not something terribly big. Trish takes a turn driving so Dez sits in the passenger seat. Austin lifts me up and sits next to me in the back. Trish turns on the radio again and before long, I fall asleep again on Austin's shoulder.

**-Line Break-**

I woke up a little before we got to the campsite, unfortunately, it was on an extremely curvy road and Dez had to use a barf bag repeatedly. As soon as we got to our campsite, Dez jumped out, "Ahhh! Fresh air at last!" he runs around until he trips on something and face-plants in the dust. "C'mon, these are my favorite suspenders!" he says, picking himself up. He is covered in dust and has some scratches on his face and hands and that's what he's complaining about?

Trish gets out of the truck and waits near the back as Austin starts pulling stuff out. She looks over her shoulder, "It's 'kay, Dez, you packed plenty of extra."

"But these are my _favorite_!" he wines as he brushes himself off.

She sighs, "I secretly brought your battery operated panini maker incase you got in a weird mood, but I was hoping I wouldn't have to get it out so soon. It's in my suitcase so I'll dig it out for you as soon as Austin hurries up and gets my stuff out," she says the last part pointedly, aiming it at Austin.

Dez's face lights up and he fist pups, "AWESOME!" I roll my eyes, this guy is so weird, who brings a panini maker camping? Austin got the message from Trish and now all our stuff is sitting on the concrete part where you park the car. I don't like trying to get to something while other people are trying to get something in the same place so while Austin, Trish and Dez try to find their stuff I look around at the campsite. It's large and surrounded by trees. I can't see any neighboring campers, which is nice; there are four areas, perfect for each of our tents and a path near the back that I'll have to explore later.

Dez and Trish haul their stuff over to the two tent areas on the left side of the campsite and Austin his to the farther back one on the right. Now that my stuff is very accessible, I go over, grab it and movie it to my area where I start getting out my tent. It's one of those little two person tents that are really better fit for one, it's blue and grey and kinda round on top. I managed to set it up with out incident, hiding the fact from my friends that I was following instructions. Austin and Trish have theirs up, Trish is inside hers moving around, setting up bedding I assume. I go inside mine to do the same. I lay out my sleeping bag, pillow and secret pleasure, my stuffed dolphin named Dougie. I pull my suitcase and bag inside and set them where they won't be in the way, but I can still get to them. When I'm done I crawl back out and find that Austin and Trish are watching Dez struggle with his tent.

I go over and watch for a little while to before asking, "Well, are any of us gonna help him?" The other two mumble I guesses and we all help Dez.

"Thanks guys. I just couldn't figure Tentrickson out today and he kept insulting my hair," he says once we're done. His hair does look really weird, he dyed the tips purple using kool-aid while Austin and I were away, but I just didn't ask about it just like I won't mention him calling his tent "Tentrickson".

I laugh, "Trish, I can't believe you actually worked!"

"Hey, I really like camping! I'm even awake enough right now to go down to the lake and swim," she retorts. Trish always gets really tired after a long car ride so the fact that she worked and doesn't want to sleep yet proves her answer.

"Ok. I'll go too," I tell her.

"Count me in," Austin says over his shoulder as he gets into his tent to change.

"Well, I'm not staying here with only Tentrickson for company," Dez decides. I go to my tent and change into my purple bikini and cover it with a t-shirt and jean shorts. Once everyone else is done, we walk around the campground until we find our way to the lake. It's huge and super clear and there's hardly anyone here! There's some old guy getting into a boat, a lady and two little kids on one side of the beach, but we won't bother them. After a little bit the fisherman leaves, Austin and Dez share a glance before ripping of their shirts and running, screaming down the dock before jumping into the water. Trish and I laugh before walking to the end of the dock, taking off our cover-ups and jumping in after them. For a moment I think Austin's mouth drops when I take of my cover-up, but I can't be sure 'cause quickly after I had a face full of water. The water is very pleasant, it's not cold and it's not too warm either. There's no lake-weed and I can see down a long ways even at the depth we're at.

Austin comes up behind me and I scream, he starts tickling me and I almost inhale way to much water. I splash him and swim away. I see him looking at me and so I make eye contact and try to look panicked. I go under water and do the dramatic "save me" arm thing they do in movies before allowing my body to go limp. Unfortunately I underestimate my breath holding skills and I choke, sucking in water. A few seconds later, I feel Austin's strong arms encircle me and pull me to the surface before I black out.

The next thing I know I'm laying on the beach and Austin is hovering over me, wet hair sticking out all over the place. "Ally! You're ok!"

I sit up and he scoots away slightly. I cough, "Yeah, sorry about that, at first I was just trying to get you back for tickling me, but then I ran out of air. How'd I end up here?" Austin looks away and blushes so I turn to Trish and raise an eyebrow.

"Austin heroically dived under the water and dragged you to shore," she says rolling her eyes, but I can tell she was really worried about me. "When you weren't breathing he did mouth to mouth and then you woke up." I touch my lips, it didn't count as a kiss 'cause it was a life or death situation, but still… Austin's blush deepens and he looks back at me slightly smiling. I smile back, happy. I don't really feel like swimming anymore so I tell the others that I'll go back to the campsite and read or something. Austin looks torn whether to go with me or continue his fun, I get him to go back to swimming, after having me promise to be careful around strangers, and rocks, and knives, and sharp trees, the list keeps going. He's like a protective mother all of a sudden! I can take care of myself; sure it's cute, but completely unnecessary!

I find my way back to our campsite, dry off and change back into my clothes. I grab my book, but there's not a nice spot to read here 'cause we haven't set up chairs yet and the picnic bench has a bunch of bird droppings. Then, I remember that trail, I wonder if it goes to somewhere nice to read? I decide to follow it, for a while it goes through the forest and I notice it is gradually going up and turning around and I seriously start to worry about getting lost despite the trail, like what if I stepped of it somehow or there was a crossroads? Suddenly, the forest opens up and there's a ledge. I walk out to the ledge and sit down. From here I can see the beach where my friends are still swimming and out over the lake into the horizon, it's just awesome. I settle down and read.

**-Line Break-**

I turn around when I hear a noise behind me, it's Austin and he's flustered. "Ally, this is where you were?"

"Yeah, is it an issue? Am I too close to the edge?" it comes out a little sharper than I intended and Austin looks slightly hurt. "Sorry, Austin. I didn't mean it that way but when you were listing things for me to be careful of earlier it made me feel kinda defensive."

"It's 'kay, Als. It's just we swam for a while longer and then when we got tired we came back to the campsite. You weren't there, but we figured you'd be back soon, but you didn't come back. We started searching everywhere and then I saw this trail. It was the only place I hadn't checked so I came down here and found you."

"Oh, sorry. I guess time got away from me. What time is it anyway?" I look at the water, it's glowing now with the golden light from sunset.

He checks his phone, "Um, it's nine."

"Nine?! How did I read that long!?"

"I don't know, but it looks like you almost finished that entire book," Austin chuckles. I smile at him, I love this guy so much, but I don't want to make anything awkward by saying anything. He smirks and pulls me to him, he sings quietly in my ear while we sway in the sunset. The moment is so fairytale and cliché, but I love it.

_Take my hand,_

_I'll teach you to dance,_

_Spin you around, won't let you fall down._

_Would you let me lead?_

_You can step on my feet,_

_Give it a try, it'll be alright._

_The night's hush, hush and now is our moment,_ I like it how he changed "Room's" to "Night's" to fit the situation.

_Take it in, feel it all and hold it,_

_Eyes on you, eyes on me we're doing this right_

'_Cause lovers dance when they're feeling in love_

_Spotlight shining, it's all about us,_

_It's ah-ah-ah-ah-all about ah-ah-ah-ah-us…_

He trails off but we keep swaying and holding each other until the sun's light has completely faded from the sky. When we break away, I pick up my book from where I dropped it on the ground and let Austin lead me back to camp. Dez and Trish are sitting next to a fire looking worried. Dez looks up and grins, then pokes Trish in the shoulder until she too looks up and sees us.

"My gosh, Ally! You had me so worried! Don't wander off and not come back for hours!" she yells at me; I know this is how she shows her relief for the second time today so I listen to her rant. "What if a bear had got you? Or you had gotten lost? Or like, um, you'd tripped and broke your leg or something?" at the end of her little rant she hugs me tightly.

"It's ok, guys. I _can _take care of myself you know. I should've left a note or something 'cause I said I'd be at the campsite. Anyway, you guys eat yet?"

Dez answers, "Nah, we were too busy looking for you. I'll grab the hotdogs. Don't worry, they're not real dogs, I checked the nutrition list." We laugh and sit down around the fire in the chairs that were set out in my absence. We roast our hotdogs and some marshmallows and then Trish goes to bed, wiped out from the drive, swimming and then looking for me. Soon after, Dez goes to bed also muttering something about Tentrickson getting jealous about not having enough time with him. Austin and I are left alone sitting by the fire.

"Hey, Als?" Austin asks breaking the quiet of the night.

"Mm?" My left arm and his right arm are intertwined and I'm resting my head on his shoulder.

"I was wondering what you want your first kiss to be like."

This takes me by surprise and I have to think for a moment before responding, "I would want it to be really sweet; probably on my wedding day to make it extra special. I would want it to be with a guy that I was sure I loved and that he loved me back." I know who I love, but does he love me and what about all the stuff we haven't worked out yet? "What about you, that other one didn't count 'cause you didn't even know the girl."

"With you," comes the quick, two word answer. He blushes and so do I, I don't know what to say back so we fall into silence. Neither of us says anything for a while and I'm tired, so I get up and tell Austin that I'm gonna go to bed. I go to the restroom to brush my teeth and use the toilet one last time before going to sleep. When I get back Austin is still sitting by the fire and is staring into it, his mind somewhere far away. I feel like things got awkward and so I go to say goodnight properly.

"Good night, Austin." I hug him and he kisses my forehead. I don't think I'll ever get tired of his touch.

"Good night, Als. Sleep well. I'm gonna stay up by the fire for a while." I nod, hug him again and retire to my tent. I wriggle into my sleeping bag, clutch Dougie to my chest and fall asleep.

**A/N**

**Longest chapter! This one has a bunch of Dez being goofy so I hoped you liked that. I thought throwing in the waitress scene would be interesting. Please review, favorite and follow if you haven't already! Guess what's gonna come up soon? **

**~Maggie**


	11. Proposal

**A/N**

**Thank you, cookiehamster, ally2214, LoveShipper, Chubbyhippos, phia514 and SPAZZOUTyo123 for your reviews! I'm sorry if this doesn't live up to expectations; I loved reading your reviews! Love ya guys!**

**I realized that in chapter 4 I said Ally had brothers and then in chapter 8 that she didn't have any siblings, let's just say that they were a lot older than her and moved out when she was little. She had gotten a lot of Halo practice already, but she doesn't remember them all that much.**

**Austin and Ally episode tonight! I need to know what the note said! And that kiss last episode, I was like whoa.**

**Austin's POV.**

**Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Austin and Ally; just the plotline.**

Today's the day. Yesterday when I was looking for Ally, I found this isolated spot kinda like where Ally was reading, but this one has a hot spring instead of a view of the lake. I know it's almost time, it's already seven; I'll be taking her at eight. I can't wait, I hope she says yes. This morning and afternoon we mostly hung out at the lake swimming. We had cereal for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch. We didn't pack like we were gonna have gourmet meals while we're camping so we have extremely simple food. Ally's so beautiful when she swims, when she smiles, when she laughs, even when she's mad at me. I think Trish and Dez are currently fishing with that old guy we saw yesterday. We didn't bring salmon so Dez just hopes he can catch some trout so he can make marshmallow and trout paninis instead.

Earlier, I managed to convince Trish to tell me Ally's full name which happens to be Allyson Marie Dawson. It's a pretty name, but I'll like it better if/once it is Allyson Marie Moon. Trish put up a fight though for the information and I had to trade info for info. I told her Dez's last name which is Worthy and why I was asking for Ally's full name. She squealed and jumped up and down before getting serious. She asked me if I thought that kinda commitment was really what I wanted seeing as today was only the ninth day we'd known each other. It took a while, but I got her to see my point of view. I had her promise not to mention this to Ally or Dez.

Ally's sitting by our little fire, reading. She must have brought more than one book 'cause she read an entire one yesterday. I stretch and breathe in the nice foresty air. I love camping, my parents always used to take me when I was little; this is the last time I've been in years though. When I got famous with R5 we had to stop incase it got in the way of my practice or concerts or just bonding time with the rest of R5. That was one thing I regretted about joining R5, I couldn't camp anymore. The other negatives were invasion of privacy for the press, long trips cooped up with Ryland, Rydel, Rocky, Ratliff and Riker, even though I love 'em they get annoying after a while and then the getting mobbed by fans thing. I couldn't go anywhere without being pointed at and asked for autographs or photos with them. I'm so glad I can just be Austin Moon around my new friends.

"Als, are you hungry?" I remember the first time I saw her and heard her name, Ally, that Als would be the perfect, endearing name for her. At first it was kinda for my enjoyment and to bug her, but now it really is the sweetest pet name I could give her. The regular boyfriend/girlfriend names, "Babe", "Hon", or "Sweetheart" just don't sound right to me. I don't think they sound right to her either seeing as she always addresses me as "Austin."

"A little," she looks up at me from her book, a piece of her chestnut hair falls into her eyes and she brushes it aside. I wish I could kiss her, but I have to respect her wishes to wait. If all goes as planned though, I should be able to kiss her soon. Her doe-like eyes make my heart flutter each time I look into them and she looks amazing even though she's in super casual camping clothes.

"I'll cook you a hotdog." I get one for her and one for myself and start roasting them. Soon, they're dripping, slightly charred and filling the air with the smell of delicious food. I eat mine with only ketchup while Ally smothers hers in ketchup, relish and mustard. Before Ally is even done with her first one, I've cooked myself another and eaten most of it. I ask her if she'd like another one, but she declines. I wipe my hands on my jeans and check my phone when I'm done, only fifteen minutes left.

"I found this cool place yesterday; want to come to it with me?" I ask Ally, slightly nervous already.

"Sure."

"Change into your swim wear, but put clothes on over it."

"Um, ok." We go to our separate tents and change. I pull on my swim-trunks and a hoodie on top with my t-shirt. I slip the little black box into my pocket and go outside to wait for Ally to finish. I consider putting the fire out, but it's small and dying anyway so it should be fine. Ally finally comes out wearing the same outfit she was just in with the addition of the purple hoodie I gave her on the first night.

"Let's go." She nods and I grab her hand. It feels so small and soft in my own. I lead her on a path to the spring. There are large rocks surrounding it and steam rising from the water. I pull off my hoodie and shirt and turn to talk to Ally, but forget what I was gonna say when she takes off her clothes. As pervy as that sounds she is wearing a bikini so _it's not_. I blush, she is so stinking gorgeous. I see her blush too and then we get into the water. It's so hot, like a hot tub. It's not deep, thankfully so I don't have to worry about Ally going under. The steam curls through her damp hair and around her slightly flushed face, her eyes glisten giving her the appearance of some spectral enchantress. She moves toward me through the heated water.

"Thank you for bringing me here, Austin." She strokes her hand down my cheek and then my arm. Despite the heat, I shiver and my cheek tingles where she touched it. She wraps her arms around my neck and rests her head on my chest; it feels so natural; I wrap my arms around her waist and hold her. I rest my chin on her head, her hair smells like campfire smoke and steam, but I can still catch a hint of her strawberry-coconut shampoo. It feels so good to be like this, to be with Ally. I love Ally, I have since I saw her and I know I always will. We stand like this until we prune and have to get out. (Pruning is when your fingers and toes get all wrinkly from being in water too long.) The sun has set by now and the starts are out, I can look up and see them through the canopy of branches.

We sit on a big rock; the air is warmed by the steam so we don't replace our clothing. The rock is fairly flat so there is no worry of falling into the water. I jump down and grab the black box from my hoodie. I climb back up onto the rock and Ally looks at me curiously. I get down on one knee and pull out the ring, I hear Ally gasp as I begin, "Allyson Marie Dawson, I love you. I want to kiss you. I want to hold you. I want you to be mine. I want to be yours forever. I want to write songs with you and have new experiences with you. Will you marry me?"

**A/N**

**Aaaaaand it's a cliffy! I bet I just made a bunch of you mad… Well, you're just gonna have to wait for the next update. I felt like this would be a good place to leave it hanging so sorry if you hate me now… Please continue to read though! Please review, follow and favorite if you haven't already.**

**Btw, I know this was a short Austin POV so the next one will be in his also. It bothers me that it couldn't have been longer, but after the last one I guess it's ok…**

***Spoiler*: This may take a different twist than would be expected.**

**PS. I'm starting another story called "Remember" soon. It's a NaLu fanfic if any of you guys are Fairy Tail fans. If you are, please check it out, but if not, this is just to tell you that I may update less often. I have a few chapters in storage so I'm telling you for worst case scenario. Hopefully, I can write both at the same time and update each once a week.**

**~Maggie**


	12. Insanity

**A/N**

**I'm sorry about the late update! Ok, this is a sad chapter, just a warning. If you don't wanna read it, I'll summarize it in the author's note of the next chapter; although, if you choose not to read this, you'll have to wait until Sunday for the next chapter. Thank you guy's for your diligence with my story! Thank you ally2214, SPAZZOUTyo123, tephriam, LimoLuzie, cookiehamster, LoveShipper, amazingchloexox, Chubbyhippos and Guest for your reviews! It made me so happy to read them :)**

**To Guest who I can't PM because you don't have an account:**

**Yes, Ally is serious about waiting. My aunt didn't even hold hands with her boyfriend and then fiancé until they got married, personally, I don't know how she did this. The reason they haven't really kissed yet is because my mom caught me on the chapter that I was originally going to have them kiss and now reads each chapter…I will have them kiss though…I will. I don't mind if you choose to cuss, even in your reviews; I just don't do it myself. Anyway, thanks for your reviews and I hope you read this note.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Austin and Ally**

_I get down on one knee and pull out the ring, I hear Ally gasp as I begin, "Allyson Marie Dawson, I love you. I want to kiss you. I want to hold you. I want you to be mine. I want to be yours forever. I want to write songs with you and have new experiences with you. Will you marry me?"_

She doesn't answer and I start sweating, what if she doesn't love me back? "Au-austin, I l-love you too. I would like to be your wife…but…" she takes in a breath like she's about to start sobbing, "I can't."

How could this be happening? What do I do now? Why can't she? All these questions race through my mind. We'll just get into an argument if I question her so I let her explain on her own. I set the ring down and scoot up to her. I wrap my arms around her as her eyes tear up. "I do want to, Austin." The tears built up in her eyes break their dam and trickle down her face. "But we've only known each other for nine days! You're in a famous band and I'm going to go back to college and work soon. We haven't even told your parents we were in a _relationship!_ How do you think they'd take it if we just came back from camping and you told them we were engaged?" Ally's sobbing now, I hold her close to me; I wish I could help her, but I don't know what to do other than what I already am.

"We'd make it work. It'd be fine. I love you, you love me. Love is the strongest emotion right?" I whisper, trying to soothe her.

She shakes in my arms, her tears mix with the water vapor in the air. "I-I haven't had a proper conversation with my father since I moved out five years ago. I don't even know if he cares about me anymore…and…I'm scared, Austin," she says, her voice quivering and decreasing in volume as she speaks.

I use one hand to stroke her hair and I kiss the top of her head, "Shhhhh, Als, I love you. You don't need to be afraid. We'll sort everything out."

"But I am, Austin. This is really hard, but," she pauses and draws a deep breath, "I'm going to be completely honest with you, I can't say yes yet. I need time to think and so do you. I'm not breaking up with you but I think we should just give each other a little space until we figure this out." I'm shocked. This started out as my proposal to the girl I love and it turned into her saying she needed space to think.

"Oh, ok, I guess." I still love her, but this hurt. I feel like she stabbed me in the chest with a knife. I know I won't be able to stay away from her though, even if I wanted to. I feel my eyes tear up and I try to keep myself from crying, but one slips out and traces its way down my cheek. Ally senses the change in me and looks up. She's still crying but she reaches up and wipes away my tear. She doesn't offer any words of comfort and neither do I; we just don't know what to say. We just sit there a while in silence; the air is shifting around us; the cool night verses the warm steam. The starts twinkle up in the sheet of darkness above, beyond sadness, beyond love. I sigh and realize Ally's breathing has slowed. I think she's asleep. I pick her up bridal style, grab our stuff and carry her back to the campsite. The fire is out and Trish and Dez are probably asleep. I drop my stuff off in my tent before gently putting Ally in hers. I don't know what she usually sleeps in and I don't think she'd like it if I dressed her while she's asleep so I just pull my(now her) purple hoodie onto her and tuck her into her sleeping bag. I notice a stuffed dolphin hiding in the corner of the tent. I bring this to her and she hugs it tightly in her sleep. I take out the black box with the ring inside and place it in the palm of her hand, her fingers curl around it and she clutches it in her fist. I kiss her closed fist and back out to let her sleep.

I change and get into my sleeping bag. No matter what position I try though, I can't sleep. I think I doze off and on, but deep sleep doesn't come until the early hours of the morning.

**-Line Break-**

I'm woken up when something clatters outside. I stick my head outside of my tent and shiver as the cool morning air touches my bare skin. I slept shirtless ok? I'm a dude, deal with it. I see that Dez and Trish are up; it appears that Dez dropped a pot and that was the loud noise. I throw on a blue v-neck and jeans and step outside. "What's Dez doing?" I ask.

"Dez wants hot chocolate. We have some of those instant cocoa packets, but we haven't had a way to warm the water. Dez packed this pot for some reason and figured he could boil the water over the fire, admittedly, this was a good idea but then he dropped the pot full of water on the ground. Now he's gonna try again, you should help him carry it," she informs me.

"Ok. The faucet is at the bathroom so it's on my way anyway." I grab my toothbrush and stuff and go to the bathroom. I'm done quickly and when I exit, Dez has just finished filling the pot with water. He grabs one handle and I grab the other. I grunt, this is heavier than it looks. We get it back to the site, put that grill thing on top of the fire and place the pot on it. Now we just have to wait. Ally gets out of her tent and makes her way to the bathroom. She doesn't even look my direction. I just sit and watch the fire, the flames are so interesting, it's almost like they're alive. The way they jump and dance, the colors playing with each other; red, orange, yellow, blue and white. I don't know how long I've been spacing off and then Dez interrupts my thoughts by walking up to the fire and dipping his tin camping cup into the now boiling water. He grabs a hot chocolate packet, dumps it in and stirs. He gives a happy sigh. I take my cup and do the same. The hot chocolate feels good as it goes down my throat, slightly scalding my tongue and the heat blooms out into my chest.

Ally gets back and even though she's freshly showered, she still looks as bad as I feel. Her eyes are slightly red and puffy; she has bags under her eyes so I guess she didn't sleep well after I left. She still avoids eye contact with me and when I ask if she'd like some hot chocolate, she ignores me. Dez gives me a weird look and repeats the question. She nods and thanks him. Is she going to ignore me all day?

With the left-over hot water we put some instant oatmeal in and eat that for breakfast. It's so good, especially with this weird, chilly weather. It's my turn to do the dishes so I take them down to the faucet. The water is cold on my hands, making me shiver. I finish up and put them into their box back at the campsite.

We leave today at noon; we don't get to have fun or anything; we just have to pack up. Once we're done, it's time to go and Ally still hasn't spoken to me, let alone looked at me. Trish is driving first this time and she wants to sit by Dez so Ally and I end up in the backseat together. It isn't one of those seats that are designed for three people so we're sitting pretty close to each other. Ally breaks her total non-interaction with me; I noticed she glanced at me. In that one look I could see the mental war raging in her. Maybe she's been avoiding me 'cause she doesn't know what to do yet and she thinks she'll completely let herself go.

We sit in awkward silence, no one is talking, well, Dez is mumbling to himself, but that doesn't count. I look over at Ally and observe that she put her ear-buds in and fell asleep. A tear finds its way down her cheek and I gently wipe it off. I take the right ear-bud out of her ear and listen to the song that was playing when she fell asleep.

_Don't speak as I try to leave 'cause we both know what we'll choose,_

_If you pull then I'll push too deep and I'll fall right back to you._

'_Cause you are the piece of me I wish I didn't need,_

_Chasing relentlessly, still fight and I don't know why._

_If our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy?_

_If our love's insanity, why are you my clarity?_

_Why are you my clarity?_

_Why are you my remedy?_

_Why are you my clarity?_

_Why are you my remedy?_

She shifts her body and I replace the ear-bud. If our love's insanity, why are you my clarity? Our love does seem like insanity. I watch her sleep, she looks so peaceful. Her chest gently rises and falls with her breathing and occasionally her eyes flutter under her eyelids. I eventually drift off too, tired from my lack of sleep last night.

**-Line Break-**

My eyes open and we're parked outside Dez's house. He's waving and dragging his stuff inside. Trish drives to her friend's house that she's staying the night at, next she grabs her stuff and tosses me my key. I get into the driver's seat and bring myself and Ally back home. I don't know if she'd want me to touch her, but after a brief hesitation I carefully shake her awake. She comes to and looks up at me. Being a gentleman, I grab her bags for her while she turns on her phone and checks her missed texts and calls. A look of horror crosses her face and she quickly listens to the next voice mail on her phone. She hits the next couple and then slowly sits down on the concrete. I don't know what happened, but I'm really worried now. I pick her up and carry her inside. She doesn't object and I bring her upstairs to her room. I return to my truck, lock it and bring her things up as well.

Ally's just sitting on her bed, staring at nothing. I take a seat beside her and wrap my arm around her shoulders. Whatever happened, there's no way I won't be here for Ally. "What happened, Als?"

"He-he's dead," she whispers, her voice cracking.

"Who is?"

"My dad. They called, but since we had no reception while we were camping…" she starts sobbing. It hurts so much to see her in pain like this; I want to cry along with her. "Th-the first day he got in a car accident with a drunk driver and was taken into intensive care. He h-had a p-punctured lung and broken r-ribs as well as a concussion and whiplash. The hospital called y-yesterday saying th-that they di-didn't get him in time and by the t-time they got him it was for sure he was going to p-pa-pass away. My stepmom called today to tell me there was gonna b-be a small fu-neral at nine, but…I couldn't go!"

"Oh, Als," it's the only thing I can think of to say. I rub her back and she hiccups as more tears come.

"I-I hadn't even told him I love him! I hadn't told him that I love him in thirteen years! When I was ten and we found out Mom had cancer he started drinking 'cause he couldn't take it. He was hardly ever home and when he was he was passed out or completely incoherent to the world, I convinced myself I didn't need him; that I didn't need anybody. After I moved out I avoided talking to him as much as possible. I'd send him a happy birthday text every year and one for Christmas, but that was it! And-and now he's gone," she's wailing into my chest. My heart is aching and I taste salt as my own tears drip down my face and onto my lips. I can't believe she just told me all that incredibly personal things, poor Ally.

I kiss her temple, "I'm here, Als, I'm here." She shudders in my arms.

"Thank you, Austin." We sit there, wordlessly reassuring each other until Ally scoots away slightly, "This is crazy."

"I know, but…" I think of what to say and the lyrics from Clarity come back, "if our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy?"

She looks into my eyes and whispers the next line, "If our love's insanity, why are you my clarity?" I spot her fiddling with her necklace. It still has the treble clef, but there's another addition; the engagement ring. Ally shakes her head, "But with this…I-I need tonight to mourn by myself. You can visit me tomorrow and we'll figure this out ok?"

I nod. I can understand this. I remember when Pops died; he was my grandfather, he died when I was seven from a severe stroke. "You're sure you'll be fine?"

She nods, "Yeah, thanks again, Austin." I hug her tightly and she nuzzles her head in the crook of my neck. Despite all the confusion, I know we both know how we feel and that things will work out some how. We know that we are each other's clarity. She breaks the hug and kisses me on the cheek, "Bye, Austin."

"Bye, Als." I leave her house and it feels like I've entered a different world. The sun is shining and the sky is clear. It's not too hot and it just keeps going on, a perfect day that doesn't take notice of Ally's suffering. This makes me angry so when I go into my own home I'm in a bad mood.

"Hey, Austin! You're home! Was there traffic, you were supposed to be here two hours ago," my mom greets me.

"Hey, Mom. Uh, yeah, something like that," I mutter back sullenly.

"Did something happen, Austin?"

"Nope. I'm gonna go unpack," I tell her and go upstairs. I don't like lying to my mom, but she doesn't need to know about Ally's situation. I remember that my parents not knowing that we're dating was on her list of worries so I make note to tell them after dinner. I unpack my things, when my mom calls up that dinner is ready, I go down and eat. The food is awesome, much better than our camp stuff. They ask questions about our trip and I tell them about the good parts, swimming, Dez being a goof, but exclude anything about what Ally and I did.

When dinner's over I speak up, "Hey, guys, can I tell you something?"

Mom looks slightly worried, "Um, of course, Austin."

I nod. "Well, Ally and I are dating. I've thought about proposing to her," I tell them; they don't need to know that I already did propose.

"I can't believe this! You two are so perfect for each other! I can't wait to be a grandma!" Mom says ecstatically. Dad just nods to tell me he approves. I was kinda expecting this, well, this or her being crazy angry at me.

"Thanks." I excuse myself and go up to my room. I took Ally's stepmom's phone number from her phone earlier and decided to call her now.

The phone rings a few times before it's picked up and a woman answers, "Hello, this is Mrs. Dawson speaking."

"Um, hi, Mrs. Dawson, this is Austin, I'm your stepdaughter's boyfriend."

"Oh, ok, what do you want?"

"I was wondering if Mr. Dawson had any last words Ally should know about."

"Why do you care?"

"Because I care about Ally."

"Hmph, why does she care? She didn't even visit him in the hospital or come to the funeral!"

"We were camping; she couldn't receive the phone calls. She's really miserable right now."

"Well, he said he was sorry for all those years and for abandoning her when her mom died, but I thought he was delusional, he was the nicest man I ever met. Oh, and he said he loved her."

"Thank you Mrs. Dawson."

"Sure. Bye now."

"Bye." I have to tell Ally this; it'll probably make her sadder, but also help her heal. I said I'd wait for tomorrow though so I'll just tell her then.

**A/N**

**This was a sad chapter for me to write… Please review, favorite and/or follow if you haven't already. **

***Goes and hides in corner in fear of reader's wrath***

**~Maggie**


	13. Being Sad

**A/N**

**Thank you LoveShipper, MissWeasley8 and tephriam for your reviews! **

**Summary of previous chapter:**

**Ally rejected Austin's proposal. It was awkward. They went home and found out her dad died. There were a lot of tears.**

**Ok, so something that I though I should tell you guys is that my mom is my editor, she has to check what I write. This is why they haven't kissed yet, she read the chapter that I was planning on having them kiss in and kinda banned me from anything "intimate". THEY WILL KISS IN THIS STORY THOUGH. On the good side of this, I have someone who reads over these to check for stupid mistakes, on the bad side, she said she can only read oneish a week so…yeah. **

**Disclaimer: Don't own Austin and Ally**

I sit on my bed, hugging my knees as the numbers change yet again on my phone. It's now three in the morning and I can't sleep. I've never had insomnia before and I'm so tired that I would cry if I had any tears left, but I don't. I can't believe my father is actually dead. My bed is strewn with old albums of when I was really little, before everything happened. Dad didn't want them so I took them when I moved out; he said it was too painful to look at them. I understand what he means now, but at the same time I'm drawn to the pictures. I flip the page and look at a picture of myself and my parents at the beach. We all look so happy, my dad smiling, blue eyes twinkling, my mom laughing as I in my little red bathing suite and pigtails hold a crab in my hands, looking awed. I wish I could go back to that moment and hold it forever. That moment when I was so young, innocent and happy. That moment when my parents were alive and we were all there for each other. That moment before I had experienced what the world can throw at you.

I touch my dad's face in the picture, I wonder if he even remembered me, if he mentioned me before he died, if he missed me. I sigh, I wish I could talk to someone, Rydel is probably asleep though and I pushed Austin away. Why did he still try to help me so much after I rejected him? It's the eleventh; I only have twenty days left of summer. I lay back on my soft blanket; I should try again to sleep. Sleep won't come to me though, my mind keeps jumping around; Austin, Dad, camping, school, work, tears, the dryness of my feet. Songs also play in my head, not full ones, just snippits of them.

_I need your love_

_I need your time_

_When everything's wrong,_

_You make it right._

_And when the daylight comes I'll have to go_

_But tonight I'm gonna hold you so close_

'_Cause in the daylight we'll be on our own_

_But tonight I need to hold you so close._

_If our love is tragedy why are you my remedy?_

_If our love's insanity why are you my clarity?_

_Tell me what you want to hear_

_Something that were like those years_

_I'm sick of all the insincere_

_So I'm gonna give all my secrets away._

The songs playing are all fairly different; I Need Your Love, Daylight, Clarity and Secrets aren't songs that would usually mix. I can't stop the songs that keep coming though and they keep me awake.

**-Line Break-**

After hours of laying on my bed, thinking and unable to rest, the gentle rays of sunlight peek in through my window. I can't believe it's already sunrise, which although it's summer and the sun rises pretty early, means that it's around five in the morning. I don't feel like doing anything today, the nice weather mocks the dark mood that hangs over my shoulders. Since I'm not getting anywhere with sleep I decide to go downstairs. The house hasn't been cleaned thoroughly in a long time and I need something to distract my mind with, if only until Austin comes and I can be with him so I set about doing all that stuff that no one bothers about unless there's company. I clean the toilets, dust _everything_, and beat the rugs like they did in pioneer days with a large spoon. The beating of the rugs was a great way to get rid of any frustration; I beat the life out of those things. After that I swept and mopped the floor, mowed the lawn, swept the drive way, washed the windows, scrubbed the tubs, washed both Trish's and my cars and baked some banana bread with old, but not yet rotten bananas. To make the floor look especially shiny, I decided to wax it as well, my thoughts drifted while doing this though and before I knew it tears were dripping off my cheeks. I quickly wipe away my tears, finish and flop down on the couch thinking that some TV would be nice.

There is nothing on that I want to watch, but I leave it on Travel Channel if only for background noise and something to look at every once in a while. I thought that now would be a good time to talk with Rydel. As I turn on my phone, I catch a glance at the time, it's noon, I have the revelation that I'd been working for seven hours with _no sleep_ no wonder I'm so exhausted. None the less, I still call Rydel. On the fourth ring she picks up.

"Hello, this is Rydel. Could you call back some other time, we're rehearsing right now. Thanks," she says nonchalantly.

"Um, Rydel, this is Ally. I have something I need to talk to someone about," I'm so upset with myself right now! Why can't I even just say that without my voice cracking?

"Oh, ok. We can talk now, one sec." I can tell she's not talking to me when her voice is slightly muffled as she yells, "I gotta take a break boys!" Her voice back to normal tone she asks, "What's up, Ally?"

"Austin proposed to me, but I couldn't accept because I was scared and then I got home and received the news that my dad died while I was camping!"

"Oh dear. Do you just need to vent?" I shake my head and then remember she can't see me through the phone.

"No, but thanks, Rydel. I kinda vented last night, I was just gonna ask your advice."

"Ok. You can tell me or ask me anything, Ally, just know that."

"Thanks. Well, I was wondering if you think I was wrong to not accept Austin's proposal."

"Hmmm. You two definitely have strong chemistry, but I think you should go at your own pace. I can tell that he really loves you and you love him back though so take that into consideration." I nod, but once again, she can't see it.

"Thanks for your input. I realize now that all my previous fears can be handled…except my dad. Once I recover a little from the blow of his death, I think I'll accept. I'll have to get him alone and stuff like he did to me."

"Ooooh! Can I see a picture of the ring if you have it with you?"

I laugh, "Sure, Rydel. I'll also tell you about how he did it." I take a picture and send it to her before launching into how Austin proposed while we were camping. We continue talking until I start yawning continually and have to tell her goodbye. I lay down from my sitting position on the couch, grab a nearby blanket and drift off to sleep.

**-Line Break -**

I hear the lock on the front door clicking; I jump off the couch and run into the kitchen to grab a weapon. I grab a frying pan because I just wouldn't feel right using a knife. The door opens and in walks Trish. I give a sigh of relieve and put down the frying pan.

"Hey, Trish. How was Cassidy's?"

"Good. Why are you still in yesterday's clothes?"

"Eh, couldn't sleep and was too lazy to change," I tell her. The truth was, I hadn't even thought to change, my mind was too preoccupied.

She shrugs, "'Kay. Well, I'm going up to sleep 'cause I got none."

"Ok, sleep well." Trish nods and goes upstairs groggily. I check my phone, it's five in the afternoon; I wonder why Austin isn't here yet. My stomach grumbles and I'm reminded that I haven't eaten anything since the sandwich I had for lunch yesterday. I order pizza and sit back down on the couch. That guy who travels around and eats random, gross stuff is on TV, I think the show's called Bizarre Foods or something. I cover my eyes as he eats sheep eyes and chicken intestines, eww! How could someone even eat that stuff? I change the channel to Food Network, but that just makes me hungrier so I go On Demand and watch the new episode of Face Off. About halfway through the doorbell rings, I pause my show and answer it excitedly, it's not Austin, but pizza is just as good right now. Taking the whole box, I return to the couch and dig in. I inhale three slices without even tasting them and then slow down some so I can enjoy it as well as fill myself.

Checking the time, it's six now, Austin should definitely have been here by this time. The pizza is safely stashed away in the fridge for later and so I decide to text Austin. I leave the TV on Food Network while I text, it no longer makes me hungry 'cause I stuffed myself with six pieces of pizza.

_Hey, Austin. _I wait for about five minutes before texting again. _Austin I thought you were coming over today. _Again, there's no response. _Austin answer me! Why aren't you answering me? You were so understanding yesterday! Don't leave me! Austin! Austin! Austin!_ I send the texts, but still no answer. I decide to call him instead, he doesn't pick up and I leave a message. I'm a little worried, I know that I hurt him, and yet he was so loving yesterday night so why is he acting this way now? Did he just realize to the fullest that I rejected him? I want him; I was confused; those twenty-four hours were insanity! I call again and he doesn't pick up again. I shake my head, fine; if he doesn't want to see me then he doesn't have to, but I can't stop my eyes from tearing up. I want to scream, I'm so angry at myself for all these tears, I'm not a weakling, it's because I let Austin melt the wall protecting my heart.

I go upstairs and get into my shower, figuring that the warm water will soothe me. I wash and condition my hair and then just stand there, letting the water flow over me. The entire bathroom is steamy and warm; I relax, finally in a fairly good mood. Unfortunately, the hot water only lasts so long, when in starts to cool down, I turn it off and step out. I get into my comfy music note pajamas and crawl in bed. I yawn and snuggle into the covers; I'm super tired even though I had a nap earlier. Dougie is in my arms and I let the worries of the day disappear, if only while I lay in the safe embrace of sleep.

_Darkness surrounds me as I fall. The voices of my family members echo around me. "Why didn't you come to see him in the hospital or at least to his funeral?" my aunt says._

"_She's an uncaring little brat. You know she hasn't even talked to her father in years!" That was my stepmom. I try to tell them why, but I can't speak. My mouth moves and yet no sound comes out. I clutch my throat._

"_Really?! I expected so much more of you Ally!" Even the kind voice of my mother is used against me. I feel my eyes start to water and I curl my hands into tight fists, trying to fight them off._

"_What's this? Angry are we?"_

"_Ha! You deserve this, you miserable girl!"_

"_How you rejected that guy who loves you after you said you loved him too; just cruel m'darling!" My anger dies as I feel my cheeks dampen. I sigh heavily._

"_Feeling remorse now?"_

"_Maybe you should wake up and tell him how you _really_ feel!"_

"_Wake up, Ally!"_

"_Wake up, Ally!"_

I open my eyes and I'm not falling; I'm laying on my bed and Trish is looking at me. "Oh, good, you woke up. You were kind of moaning in your sleep and I thought I should do something. Well, 'night," she says and walks out. I guess even sleep isn't safe right now so I go downstairs. I sit on the couch and dig into a tub of my favorite ice-cream; fruity mint swirl. I watch a few episodes of Mystery Diners and feeling better from the sugar and interesting show, I decide I can go upstairs and sleep again. I get back into bed and drift into a deep, dreamless sleep.

**A/N**

**Please favorite, follow and/or review if you haven't already! Thanks for your support!**

**~Maggie**


	14. Beach and Library Garden

**A/N**

**So here's the next chapter! Thank you for your reviews, tephriam, SPAZZOUTyo123, LoveShipper and LimoLuzie! If you followed, thank you also :) I'm already excited for the season premier next Sunday; the part in the promo where they go, "I just wanna see you" or something like that. YAY :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Austin and Ally or anything else you recognize.**

I wake up and go through the usual getting up activities; shower, get dressed, brush teeth, do hair and minimal make-up. My heart feels numb and I have no tears left so I'm just running on auto-pilot. I don't know what I'm going to do today. Maybe I'll go to the library and get something new to read. I fiddle with my necklace, fingering the treble clef and the ring. I wonder what Austin's doing right now. I can't stay upset with him for long and I hope it's the same way for him.

Heading downstairs, I decide that I want pancakes for breakfast. I'm mixing up the batter when I hear the front door open. I figure it's Trish, she might have been at a party or something last night without me knowing. Suddenly, strong arms grab me around the waist. On instinct I jerk my elbow back, hard.

"Oof!" I twist around and Austin's standing there, rubbing his side where I hit him. I scowl, what's he doing here? I was just wondering what he was doing, but I didn't expect him to just show up! What's with his mood swings? He was all nice and stuff and then he completely ignored me yesterday and now he's come up and hugged me from behind! He pulls that move a lot…

I place my hands on my hips, "What're you doing, Austin?"

"Coming to see you?" he answers as if he doesn't know himself.

"After ignoring me yesterday? I texted you a bunch and you didn't answer, not even when I called!" I'm waving the mixing spoon around to accent my words and pancake mix is flying, but I don't care.

"I-I'm sorry, Ally. I messed up. After I told you I'd be there and then visit you yesterday… I know you don't want to hear an excuse, but yesterday it just hit me; that you'd rejected my proposal and it hurt even if you had legitimate reasons. I told my parents about us, so we're one step closer if you'll still have me?" he admits. I cross my arms over my chest.

"Oh?"

He nods, "Yeah, and they were ok with it. I love you, Als, please don't hate me." I punch him in the chest. I don't know why, I just do, and then I crumple into his arms.

"I couldn't hate you if I tried," I whisper. He rubs my back gently. My fists are curled up against his chest as he holds me. I dropped the spoon earlier. "Sorry about yelling at and punching you."

"It's fine, Als. I talked to your stepmom," Austin tells me. When I don't respond, he continues, "she told me that on his deathbed your dad said he was sorry for all those years and for abandoning you when your mom died and that he loved you." I sob a little. I thought this was done for now, but I realize that it'll take a while before life goes back to normal.

"Thank you, Austin." We stand like that until my stomach reminds me about the pancakes I was making. I step away and resume cooking.

"Whatcha makin'?"

I ignore Austin's question because I know that he'll get all excited and won't be able to focus no matter how much I love his childishness. "Why do you love me?" we both do the thing where we ask deep questions out of the blue.

"You're sweet, you know your limits, you love music as much as I do, you have your imperfections and aren't afraid to admit to them. You're beautiful. You cook awesome pancakes. You make my heart flutter and my stomach twist. This is why I love you, Als," he responds, the question not daunting him.

"I don't deserve you, you know." He catches my wrist and makes me face him.

"Yes, you do. Don't doubt yourself, Ally." I look into his eyes and get that perfect feeling, that feeling that still scares me. I nod and he lets go of my wrist. "So whatcha makin'?"

I'm glad he changed the subject and disappointed at the same time, "Pancakes."

"YES! I'll get the chocolate chips." He goes to the pantry and grabs them. I hum as I work, the lyrics flowing through my mind.

_I felt a pain in my chest with your kiss on my cheek_

_And as I try to digest the words I couldn't believe_

_I'm left with nothing to say with my heart on my sleeve_

_Making it easy to hurt and even harder to breathe_

_So if you're gonna go and leave me in a lonely grave_

_I won't let it show until you've finally flown away_

_You gotta know that you tear me up when you say_

_You wanna take it all away, take it all away_

_You tear me up when you say_

_You wanna take it all away, take it all away_

_You were the one and it was enough_

_To be the one you were dreaming of_

_You were the one and we called it love_

_And now you take it all away, take it all away_

Austin watches intently, ready for the pancakes to be done already. He poured the chocolate chips into the batter so now I'm making chocolate chip pancakes; it doesn't really matter to me though so it's fine. "Whatcha humin'?"

"Ah, nothin'."

"No, I'm really curious. I haven't heard it before, did you write it?"

"Yeah, it's called Take it All Away."

"Cool."

"Pancakes are done."

"Awesome!" I smile as he grabs five pancakes and pours syrup on them. We eat and clean up. I wipe the batter that flew everywhere off the previously clean floor and cupboards. "So how you feeling, Als?" Austin asks me as we sit down on the couch.

"I feel kinda detached from everything, but a little better," I say honestly. It did make me feel better when Austin told me what my dad had said even though it pained me, wishing I could have been there to hear it myself. Take it All Away came to my mind earlier because of the lyrics, "I felt a pain in my chest with your kiss on my cheek, and as I try to digest the words I couldn't believe, I'm left with nothing to say with my heart on my sleeve, making it easy to hurt and even harder to breathe." When I was little, maybe four or five, my dad would kiss me on my cheek every night when he and my mom tucked me into bed. At first I couldn't believe that he was actually gone, but it's slowly sinking in.

"Hmm, it's good you're feeling better." I don't comment for a bit and we sit there in silence, staring at the turned off the TV. I'm lost in my thoughts and I suppose he is as well.

"Hey, Austin?" I break the silence.

"Mm?"

"I wanna go somewhere today; I spent all day here yesterday, sad and cleaning. Let's get out and do something," I tell him.

"Ok. Where do you wanna go?"

I shrug, "Surprise me." Austin grins, grabs my arm and drags me outside. I get into his truck while he runs inside for something. I space out and am brought back when Austin gets in and his door slams.

"Where are we going?" I ask immediately as he pulls out of his driveway.

He laughs, "I can't tell you, it's a _surprise!"_

"Pretty pleeeease?"

"Nope, you asked for me to surprise you!" I laugh too; it feels marvelous to laugh again. These last few days have just been depressing.

"Fine." I wait a few minutes before asking again, "Where are we going?"

"I'm not telling you," he replies and sticks his tongue at me. I stick my tongue aback at him and we laugh. "Don't worry, we're almost there." I sit back and cross my arms, pouting childishly. Austin parks and we get out; we're on a beach that is completely bare. The water crashing against the soft looking sand is inviting though. I run ahead of Austin and bury my toes in the warm sand and let the briny breeze blow through my brown hair.

"Where are we?" I ask when he catches up.

"The beach."

"Well, duh, Captain Obvious. I meant _which_ beach."

"Oh, I don't know. It's private property or something, but the owner only comes here like three times a year and even if we did get yelled at I have celeb status, remember?"

"Yeah, ok. It's too bad I don't have my swimming stuff."

"Whoops, I forgot about that…" he says looking down.

"It's ok, Austin. So what'd you grab when you went inside?"

"Surfboards incase you wanted to learn."

"Awesome! Let's do that!"

He shrugs and goes back to the truck. A few minutes later, he returns hauling two surfboards. Austin sticks them in the sand so they're standing before asking me, "So are you just gonna surf in your clothes?"

"Yeah, what about you?"

"When I went inside, I also put on my swim trunks on under my jeans," he tells me and I nod. We get ready and paddle into the water. I sit on my board, straddling it, scanning for any good waves. I spot one and start moving towards it, Austin calls to me, "Wait, Als, you have to position yourself right. If you do that, this time just try to ride the wave while laying on the board, ok?"

I smile and wink, "Ok, Austin." I already know how to surf, but it'll be fun to surprise him. I get close to the wave, position myself and wait for it to catch me. Once I'm on the wave, I stand up with my arms out for balance and ride it like a pro.

"Whoa, nice, Als!" Austin compliments me from his board.

"Thanks! You think you could do better?" I challenge him.

"Of course!" And so begins our surfing competition. We're both pretty equal so we just count the number of wipe-outs to determine who's better. Austin wipes out first; when he surfaces he spews salty water on me.

"Hey! That's one wipe-out for you!" He smirks and tips my board over. I scowl, "Oh, so _that's _how you want to play?" The next time, I wipe out, Austin's laughing at me when I push his board and he falls into the water next to me. We continue to surf, wipe-out and mess with each other until I get tired and after he wipes out again, run to the shore before he can even the score. In the end, I win with one less wipe-out.

We climb up on some rocks and watch the sun set. It's kinda like that time on his roof. There's no wind, but the warm air is gradually drying us off. I start to feel a little ache in my heart from the last couple of days; I look into Austin's eyes though and his smile makes me feel better. I fiddle with the ring on my necklace which I put on as soon as I got out of the water. I feel like Austin will help me through the hard times, tonight I'm going to tell him my real answer. I reach out and take his hand. As the sun slips into the sea, its golden light turns the sky pink, orange and red and leaves a path of gold on the ocean. All too soon, it's gone and the stars are twinkling above us. Austin climbs down first and then helps me down. I'm all dried out now and Austin pulls his shirt and jeans back on.

"Should I take you home now?" he asks me as we get into his truck.

"Not just yet, can we go to the library?" I request.

"Sure, but isn't it a bit late?" Austin inquires.

"Yeah; I want to show you something though." Austin nods and drives to the library. We sit in silence; him focused on driving and me looking out the window thinking of how to word what I'm going to say. I think I'll answer with similar words with which Austin used to ask. We park and I show him around the back of the library to the gardens. We walk to the center where there's a grove of trees. White Christmas lights sparkle in the branches and there's an old fashioned lamp post like in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe in the middle.

We take a seat on a bench that has a placard informing anyone who cares to read it that the bench is dedicated to Robert W. Sagjiro. I unclasp my necklace, slide the ring off and hand it to Austin. He looks uneasy and I can tell from his eyes that he's trying to figure out what it means. I take his hand that now holds the ring in both of mine. "Austin," I pause and take a breath, "I love you. I want you to be my first kiss. I want be held by you. I want you to be mine. I want to be yours forever. I want to write songs with you and have new experiences with you." His eyes widen as I continue, "The amount of time we've known each other doesn't matter anymore. I know I couldn't live without you and if I turned this down now I feel like I may never get this opportunity again. We'll make our schedules work with your performing and my schooling. You told your parents and they're ok with it. My dad-my dad is gone and there's nothing we can do about it. I'll try to forget what hurt me in the past, but will never forget what it taught me. I know I don't need to be scared because I have you and you'll help me through anything, even our own fights. That is, if you'll accept my new answer."

**A/N**

**It's come back around! Sorry about torturing you guys with a twist, but one of my friends wanted something sad to happen and I needed something more than fluff :'( If you ever have a question or anything, feel free to PM me. Even if you just want to talk Austin and Ally. Anyway, please review, favorite and/or follow if you haven't already! Thanks!**

**~Maggie**


	15. Stormy Night

**A/N**

**It's that time of the week my lovely readers! No more tears for now unless they're happy! :D Thank you tephriam, LoveShipper, LimoLuzie and guest for your reviews! :)**

**Incase anyone wants to know what I've been doing this weekend, I went to this ceramics shop thing where you can paint something and then they'll fire it and you'll get a cool item. I chose this dragon sculpture, but since I didn't finish, I'll have to go back another time. Today I had yummy French toast for breakfast and then I played a bunch of Ocarina of Time on my 64. The premier of Austin and Ally is tonight! *squeal***

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Please read the author's note at the bottom.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Austin and Ally or anything else you recognize.**

My eyes are wet; I swipe at them with my fist. I gently pull my hand away from Ally's and slide the ring onto her left hand's fourth finger. Ally's face brightens, her eyes sparkling with joyful tears. I pull her into a tight hug, "Yes, Ally, yes I accept your true answer!"

We release each other and sit holding hands on the bench, the warm light of the Christmas lights creating a halo that keeps the darkness away. Wow, Ally's my fiancé now! "Hey, Als?"

"Yeah, Austin?" she responds. My self control wavers when I look at her, she's not just my friend and my girlfriend anymore, she's gonna be my wife. I lean forward to kiss her. Her pink lips are partially open, I close my eyes and then something stops me. I open my eyes, it's Ally's hand. "Not yet. Remember how I told you I wanted my first kiss to be?" I blush, embarrassed.

"Oh, yeah, sorry, Als." She laughs and kisses my nose.

"It's fine, Austin. Is that all you wanted or were you going to say something?"

"Right, this is a special occasion, let's go out to eat!"

"Ok, Austin, where do you want to go?" Hmmm, pancakes sure sound good. This may not be the right sort of situation for that, but I'll try it anyway.

"How 'bout IHOP?" I suggest.

She laughs again; I like her laugh a lot. It's not like in fairy tales where the princess's laugh is tinkling or something, it's a real laugh. She snorts and stuff like that. "Ok, but let's go somewhere nicer later on."

"Ok," I laugh as well. We wander out of the garden, enjoying the trees and flowers as we go. I drive to IHOP and get out of the truck.

I open Ally's door, "Austin, can I have a piggy-back-ride?" she asks childishly. I laugh, why not? I turn around and she hops on. She's not that heavy, but is still heavier than I thought she'd be. I carry her into the restaurant like that, the few people who are there at this late hour give us odd looks, but neither of us cares. We get seated in a booth, at first we're across from each other, but Ally gets up as soon as we've put our orders in and comes to sit beside me.

Soon, our orders come, chocolate chip Mickey Mouse pancakes with whipped cream and syrup. We just had pancakes for breakfast, but I never get tired of them and Ally's too happy to mind. When the waitress comes back to see if we are doing ok, I order two hot chocolates with whipped cream and sprinkles. Also, I request some pickles for Ally. The waitress gives me an interesting look, but shrugs and heads off to grab what I added to my order. She was probably wondering how pickles go with hot chocolate-they don't.

After the waitress drops off our drinks and pickles, Ally moves to sitting in my lap. I don't mind, but it's not very Ally-like. "Hey, Als, are you ok?"

"Mmh, hmm!" she giggles and eats some pickles.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'm just exhausted and absolutely giddy with happiness!" She sips her hot chocolate and gets whipped cream on her upper lip. I chuckle and use my finger to wipe it off and then lick it from my finger. "It didn't start too well, but now it's absolutely amazing. I never got to tell you how special your proposal was, Austin. I loved that you took me to that hot spring while we were camping! And when did you find time to buy the beautiful ring?"

"I'm glad you're so happy, Als," I smile and drink some of my own hot chocolate. "Thanks, I hoped you'd like it. I bought it in Chicago at the same time I bought your necklace," I answer her questions and comments in order, so I don't loose track. We finish up our drinks and Ally finished her pickles a while ago. The waitress comes back with our bill.

"Um, is she drunk or something?" I look at my Als, she's smiling wackily, kind of like how Dez does sometimes.

"No, she's tired and we just got engaged so she's kinda on a high," I respond while looking over the bill. It's not too much, only about $20. I sign and hand her back the bill.

"Oh, congrats you guys. You look kind of familiar, where could I know you from?" She reads over the bill and my signature before having a double take. "_Ross Lynch?!" _she squeals.

"Why'd you sign that?" Ally asks me, suddenly pulled back to Earth.

I look at Ally, "I always have to sign that because it's the name my credit card is under 'cause all the money from the band gets sent to it." I turn towards the waitress again. I get a good look at her for the first time. She has platinum blond hair with blue streaks pulled back in a pony-tail and is wearing a blue uniform. She appears younger than us, maybe eighteen. "Yeah, if you don't leak to the press that I'm engaged, I'll sign something for you, take a picture with you and leave a large tip." She nods vigorously and gives her word that she won't. As a precaution, she gives Ally her phone number and name. I go through with what I promised and we leave.

Outside, there is a warm, summer downpour. Ally and I race to the truck, unfortunately, it doesn't do us much good because I can't find my keys once we get there and have to fumble around in my pocket looking for them. Once I finally do, I unlock it and we climb inside, sopping wet. I have the urge to shake the water out of my hair, but in this enclosed area, I don't think that'd be a good idea so instead, I just push it out of my face.

I drive us home and kiss Ally's forehead, "See ya tomorrow, Als."

She giggles, "You'll see me today too, it's after midnight!"

"Ok, see you today after you get some sleep!" She smiles and gets out, running to the shelter of her house. I get inside my own house, it's dark and quiet. My parents left again on business yesterday. Upstairs, I take off my soaked clothing and change into sweats. I'm not tired so I turn on my TV and play some Halo; I need to be able to beat Ally next time we play together. Just as the current warzone is about to be clear of enemy soldiers, my TV shuts off. Aw, c'mon, really?

It must be a power outage, a loose branch or something was probably knocked down by the intense rain and fell on a wire. I might as well go to sleep now I guess. Halo was just practice; I wasn't really trying to beat the game so I'm not furious that my progress was deleted. There's a flash of lighting and I hear knocking at my door. I've seen too many horror movies; I jump under my covers and shake like a Chihuahua. The knocking continues, more urgent now and my phone buzzes.

I look at it, **Austin, it's me, Ally. Trish is baby sitting her cousins and had to stay the night there and I didn't want to stay alone in my large house during a power outage. LET ME IN.**

_You're sure this isn't some psychopathic serial killer?_

**Yes, Austin, this is a psychopathic serial killer who is telling you to let them in. **_**And**_** telling you who they are just because you asked.**

_Oh, sorry, Als. Coming right now. _I respond and go downstairs. I open the door and Ally comes in, wet.

"Don't drip on the carpet!" I say immediately.

"Hi, to you too. I wouldn't be if you had let me in sooner," she retorts, but smiles at me after.

I rub the back of my neck, just a nervous habit. "Sorry, Als." I notice that she's still in her clothes and is carrying a bundle.

"I'm going upstairs to change," she says and goes up, trailing water drips. I sigh and grab a towel to dry them up. I hear the shower start up, really, she's taking a shower?

I go upstairs and knock on the door, "Really?"

"What? I was wet and wanted to get warmed up!" she calls back.

"It's fine." I sit down and lean up against the door, yes it's creeper, but if Ally's here I want to be as close to her as possible. My phone still has battery so I check stuff on it. Someone on Facebook shared a news article from CNN, I read it, and apparently this is a really huge storm that somehow didn't show up on the weather radars. It shouldn't destroy anything to serious or last too long, but the power may be out for a while and tonight will have a lot of thunder, lightning, wind and rain. The door behind me opens and I fall back, Ally is above me.

"Hey, Austin. What were you doing outside of the bathroom?" She asks, tilting her head slightly.

"Um, uh, nothing. I looked online and this is some kind of huge storm."

"Oh, ok. So I guess I'll be staying here then because Trish'll have to stay with her cousins." She replies. Ally's now wearing the purple hoodie and light grey shorts, she looks cute. "So what should we do?"

"Let's make a fort!" She laughs and agrees with me. We go downstairs, while she starts building I scamper around the house gathering pillows and blankets from everywhere possible. Soon, we have a huge amount of supplies; together we put them up, draping them over the couch, chairs from the kitchen, loveseat and TV. After stuffing the pillows and remaining blankets inside, we step back and admire our work. We get down on our hands and knees, I pull back a part of the blanket we use as the entrance, "Ladies first."

I follow her; we have a few feet of space from the floor to the blanket to move around in. There's a flash followed by a resounding boom. Ally shrieks and puts her hands over her ears, shivering. "Als, are you ok?"

"No, you idiot!" I scoot next to her and hold her close to me.

"Sorry, that's not what I meant to say. I meant, what's wrong?" I revise my question.

"I have a fear of thunder, I just don't like the loud noise," she replies and then jumps as another crash comes.

"Why weren't you scared before?"

"I was busy doing something- EEP!" Thunder sounds again and Ally buries her face in the crook of my neck.

"Ok, well, I'll just have to give you something to preoccupy you again." I pause, thinking of what to do. "Why don't we sing songs from YouTube?" I recommend. She nods and I open my phone to YouTube. "What song first?"

"How about Viva La Vida, that's what I'm in the mood for right now at least."

"Ok," I say and look it up. It's this song by Coldplay; I think I read once that it's about some English king.

_It was the wicked and wild wind,_

_Blew down the doors to let me in,_

_Shattered windows and the sound of drums,_

_People couldn't believe what I'd become._

_Revolutionaries wait,_

_For my head on a silver plate,_

_Just a puppet on a lonely string,_

_Oh, who would ever wanna be king?_

_I hear Jerusalem bells a-ringing,_

_Roman Cavalry choirs a-singing,_

_Be my mirror, my sword and shield, _

_My missionaries in a foreign field._

_For some reason I can't explain,_

_I know Saint Peter won't call my name,_

_Never an honest word,_

_But that was when I ruled the world._

After that, we took turns choosing songs. I chose One Last Dance, It's Time, Fall For You, Secrets, Check Yes Juliet, Double Take, Illusion, and I Want You Bad. Ally chose Viva La Vida, Collide, Stop and Stare, Good Time, Speed of Love, Titanium, We Found Love, and Tiptoe. My battery gets below fifty percent though and we have to stop just in case I can't charge it for a while. Ally also has a phone, but it's better to save it I think. Ally yawns and stretches, "Austin, I'm really tired."

"Ok, should we go up to the bedrooms?" Another bout of lightning and thunder crackles outside and she jumps, no longer preoccupied with singing.

"Can't we just sleep here? It's so cozy and I feel safer," Ally asks, her pupils huge, to see with only the phone's light illuminating our fort.

"I guess, sure." Instantly she lays down and curls up, her back to me. I lay down nearby and move around trying to find a comfortable position. After a while, I face Ally, who turned over in her sleep and is now facing me. She's asleep, breathing gently through her mouth. She's so beautiful and she's going to be my wife. Speaking of which, we need to discuss when we'll get married. Oh well, we'll save it for tomorrow. I _need_ to kiss her and she's not conscious kinda like when I had to revive her from almost drowning so it won't technically be her first kiss. I lean forward just as I did earlier and steal a kiss. Thunder crashes and Ally frowns slightly, before relaxing again. I plant a kiss on her forehead and fall asleep.

**A/N**

**So yeah, Austin accepted Ally's revised answer! I don't even want to know what you'd do if I had thrown another twist. :P Please review, favorite and/or follow if you haven't already :)**

**So, I noticed I have a bunch of reviews and decided to do a little contest. I got this idea from a story I read so it's not mine. Anyway, whoever is the 100****th**** reviewer gets to give me a topic of their choice and I'll write an Austin and Ally one-shot with it. Ex: they could go to the beach, or a party, they could get stuck in a cave in the mountains and have to huddle together to keep warm. It could be anything. **

**Finally, I'll be posting a Halloween inspired Austin and Ally one-shot this Thursday so it'd be cool if you guys checked it out. :) Until the next chapter, **

**~Maggie**


	16. Dress Shopping!

**A/N**

**Thank you for reviewing 14, tephriam, LoveShipper and Chubbyhippos! The review contest thing continues. Also, thank you to any of you who checked out my Austin and Ally Halloween one-shot Haunting Love :D **

**So tonight, in the episode they're imagining how it would have been without Austin…interesting… **

**Please read the Author's Note at the bottom! And now, onto chapter 16 of The New Neighbor.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Austin and Ally.**

I wake up to Austin's face. It's close, but not uncomfortably so. "Good morning, Als. It's still raining outside, although the thunder and lightning has stopped," he says. I smile. I remember the storm last night, well, this morning and us building the fort we're currently in.

I run a hand through my messy bed-head hair, "So we're getting married, huh?"

A smile plays on Austin's lips, "Yup." He brushes a stray hair behind my ear.

"When should it be?" I ask propping myself up on my elbow.

"As soon as possible, I can't wait to call you my wife," he responds. I giggle; glad to be with him in this cozy enclosure. "How 'bout in a week?"

"A week?" I ask flabbergasted. He doesn't know how long it takes to plan a wedding, does he?

"Yeah! It'll be sweet!" he responds enthusiastically.

I sigh, "Not possible."

He pouts, "Is too."

"Is not."

"Is t_oo." _I fall back onto my back.

"Fine then! If you think you can plan a wedding in a week, let's try. If I get really stressed out up until the wedding though, it's your fault, Austin!"

"Ok." We lay in silence for a while. He's looking at something on his phone, the harsh light illuminating our fort.

I lean over and try to look, "Whatcha lookin' at?" I ask.

"Stuff," he grunts in response. Austin dials a number and holds his phone to his ear. I can only hear his side of the conversation: "Hello, is this Bridal Flower Gallery?...Yes, I would…Um, roses, lilies and lilacs…Yes, that's correct…Could you do four bouquets, seven boutonnieres*, and eight vases of flowers?..Thank you…The twentieth…Ok, thank you," he hangs up. "Flowers down, now we just need food, cake, a building, friends and family and nice clothes."

"Did you really just do what I think you did?" I ask him.

"Yes, yes I did." He smiles and pauses, "Listen." I do; rain and wind are no longer pounding against the house. If I were to open a door right now, I would see everything glistening and dripping water. Austin makes calls to a catering service, a bakery and somehow reserves a location and an officiator over the phone. He also reserves a hotel in Tahiti for us to stay in on our week-long honeymoon.

"You're really into this, aren't you?"

"Yup. Today, we'll all go shopping."

I grab his arm, "But I wanna be with you."

"We'll shop together, ok?" I nod.

"Can the colors be red, cream and lavender?"

"Sure, those even match with the flowers I picked."

"I know, you're lucky I like them," I laugh. We crawl out of the blanket fort and decide to leave it. Austin's parents won't be home for another day anyway. He goes to his room to change into clothes while I go back to my house to change. I wonder if I'll move in with him after we're married or if he'll move in with me. My house is nice, but his is nicer; on the other hand, his parents technically own his house. I take a quick shower, apply some make-up and get into a regular graphic-t and jeans. Downstairs, I eat a granola bar, grab my purse and meet Austin outside. We take his truck because it has more room for our friends to sit and to put bags. We pick up Trish and Dez from Trish's cousin's house. Apparently, Dez was helping Trish babysit them. Austin drives to the mall and we all get out and head to the wedding boutique. Trish and I go over to look at dresses first. It turns out that Austin and I won't be shopping together-together, but that's ok I guess. I want something elegant, but not too expensive or flashy. I sort through all the plastic bags of white material trying to find just the right one.

Trish holds one up, "How 'bout this one?" It has a ton of ruffles, isn't very long and the bodice part is zebra print.

"Trish, that's more like what you'd wear, not me," I laugh.

"We're here on business? He actually did it and you accepted?" Trish squeals.

Oh, yeah, we hadn't told Trish and Dez yet. "Um, yeah."

"When's the wedding?"

"Austin's trying to get it on the twentieth. Don't flip." Trish flips anyway going into rush mode with looking for dresses.

"I'm going to look at bridesmaids' dresses, what colors do you want them to be?" she asks me.

"A light lavender. You can look for them, but check them by me before buying anything please. You, Rydel and Austin's mom will all need a dress; they don't have to be the same though." Trish nods and walks away excited to shop. I continue looking through all of the dresses. Finally, I pull three to try on. I go grab Trish and we head to the changing room. The first dress is sleeveless and hugs my body down to my waist before flowing out to the ground. It's plain other than a vine like design on the left side from top to hip. The silk feels nice and there's a small train. I really like it and it makes me feel like a princess, but I think I should also try on the others.

The next dress is a silvery color as well as white. It's a trumpet mermaid something-or-other-design and is off one shoulder. There's beading on the chest, waist and where it's gathered at the small of my back. The back is lace up and I like the length of the train. How am I going to decide, I love both the dresses so far!

I slip out of the mermaid dress and into the next one. This one is sleeveless like the first; it has a design on the chest and a sheer, long ruffle that flows to the ground as another layer on the dress. I smile and spin around, usually I don't enjoy shopping all that much, but this is a lot of fun! "Can I find a dress for you to try on?" Trish asks, bringing me away from my wedding dress happy place.

"Um, sure, but just know there's a chance I won't even consider it."

Trish shrugs, "Ok," and walks out of the dressing room. I take off the third wedding dress and get into the silk slip in the dressing room for in-between dresses. As I wait for Trish to return I wonder about how the boys are doing. They have to find suits for Austin, Dez, Riker, Ryland, Rocky, Ratliff and Austin's dad. That's a lot more shopping than Trish and I have to do by numbers of people, but I know that the girls will be pickier. After about ten minutes, Trish opens my door holding a dress. I'm kind of scared at what she picked out, but when I open the plastic bag to keep it safe, it actually looks pretty nice.

Getting out of the slip, I put on the dress. This one is strapless as well and instead of going to the floor, it only goes to my knees. No beading is on it, although there is a large black bow and ruffles. I admit it's not too outrageous so I add it to the dresses that I'll consider. I place all the dresses back in their bags and change into my t-shirt and jeans. Trish and I take the dresses to the counter and put them on hold under the names Ally Dawson and Ross Lynch. Ross Lynch, because that's the name Austin'll be paying for all this under. We decide we should probably check on the boys seeing as we've left them alone in a store for over an hour. We come across them arguing over whether Dez can wear his clown shoes with his suit.

"No, you cannot wear your clown shoes to Ally's and my wedding!" Austin practically shouts.

"Why not? They go with everything," Dez counters.

"Because they're _clown shoes!_" Austin hisses, obviously exasperated.

I step in, "Boys, boys, chill out! Dez, you will not wear clown shoes to my wedding."

"But-" I cut him off with my death glare.

"Since you two haven't made any progress, we'll make this simple," I declare and walk over to the area where there're separate pieces of outfits. I pick up seven white, button down shirts, seven black jackets and seven pairs of black slacks. "Here, these will be for the guys. I know that the Lynches could afford their own, but it would just be easier to buy them ourselves. Austin and Dez, you guys purchase these while Trish and I find some bridesmaids dresses," I say dropping the clothing in their arms and walk off with Trish following me.

"So did you find anything earlier while you were searching?" I ask Trish.

"Yeah, I found one that works for me and might for Rydel as well from what you've told me of her."

"Ok. So we'll find one for Austin's mom and then see what you picked out." Since I had gone shopping with Rydel, I know what size she is and Mimi doesn't look much bigger than me so I think we'll be able to find one that fits. We spend another thirty minutes searching until we find a nice one for Mimi. We return to the dressing room to look at them and for Trish to try on hers. Trish looks really cute in the lavender dress she chose. It has spaghetti straps, a gauzy layer over the actual dress and is tied at the waist with a black ribbon and bow.

"It looks great, Trish! You said you had one for Rydel?"

"Thanks! Yeah, I grabbed three that are all exactly the same, pick out the one that's her size." I sort through the three dresses and put the one that'll fit her aside.

"She can wear her black leather jacket with it as well," I laugh.

"You're going to let her?"

"Why not?" I smile. The dress I chose for Mimi is a simple, dark lavender and strapless. I just know she'll look beautiful in it! Trish and I return the dresses that were extra to the rack and buy the ones we chose. We meet the boys outside sitting on a bench.

"You guys took _so long!_" Dez complains. Austin just smiles tiredly, I think he understands how perfect this has to be. "I'm starving! Let's go eat!" He leads us to the food court, not exactly classy, but it'll due. Austin and I have pizza, Trish has fish 'n chips and Dez has a hamburger. When we're finished, we all grab the bags that contain the guy's outfits and the bridesmaids' dresses and go back to the vehicle. The guys sit in the back and I sit in the passenger seat since we're all exhausted from shopping other than Trish who does this type of thing regularly. Instead of going home, everyone decides to crash at my place. Apparently they all agreed to it, but I wasn't included in the vote. Inside, I put the bags in my room and sit down on the couch next to Austin. I have a large couch so Trish is on my other side with Dez at the end. Austin has the controller and is flipping through channels.

"What are we gonna do the rest of the day?" I ask my three friends.

"Stay here," they all respond. I guess even Trish is tired; must be because she was shopping for me instead of herself. Austin finds something he wants to watch, it's some Disney show called Ross and Laura. Laura writes songs and Ross is a performer, they're constantly getting into odd situations with their friends Callum and Rainy. We end up watching a marathon of it, all of season one and two late into the night. The opening song, "Without You" is already stuck in my head.

_There's no way I can make it without you_

_Do it without you_

_Be here without you_

_It's no fun when you're doing it solo_

_With you it's like whoa_

_Yeah and I know_

_I, own this dream_

_Cause I've got you with me_

_There's no way I can make it without you_

_Do it without you_

_Be here without you_

I'm a hardcore Raura fan now. I couldn't believe it when in the end, Ross, Callum and Rainy left on tour while Laura stayed behind for a record deal and Ross was about to tell Laura something, but didn't. Instead, he just gave her a card, but we never got to hear or see what it said! At some point, we got hungry so we ordered Chinese take-out. After the first season, Dez and Trish got bored so Austin took them home at a commercial break before coming back and snuggling with me while we finished up the marathon. After that, Austin carried me upstairs since I was super tired and tucked me into bed. He kissed my forehead and left, closing the door gently. I sigh, wow, in a week, if all goes as planned, I'll be Ally Moon.

**A/N**

**The URLs to view pictures of the dresses Ally is considering are at the bottom of my profile in order of occurrence in the story. Also, the URL for Trish's and Rydel's dresses will be there. Finally, I'll be setting up a poll for you guys to vote for which one you think she should buy so please vote! Please check it out, if no one does, I'll just have to decide on my own and that'll be hard. Please review, follow and/ or favorite if you haven't already! :)**

***** **Boutonniere- this is that flower thing guys wear**

**Until Next time,**

**~Maggie**


	17. Chocolates and Sailing

**A/N**

**Thank you everyone for your alerts and favorites as always! Thank you, taelyn.r5, tephriam, LoveShipper, queenc1 and RomanceAnd2ndChances for your amazing reviews! They make me happy and want to write!**

**If any of you (my readers) have family members that are in active duty or that have served, thank you. Happy Veteran's Day tomorrow.**

**I hope you enjoy :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize.**

"Alllllyyyyy," I wine stretching out her name. It's five days until our wedding and as promised, Ally is stressed. I tug on her arm and she holds up a finger signaling she's almost done.

"Yes…I'm sorry, I'll decide soon…don't worry I will…thank you," I hear her say and then she hangs up. She was talking to the place where she looked at dresses. They're impatient; they were already asking if she's decided. "What do you want Austin?" she asks me irritably.

"Can't we take a break and do something together? You've been so busy!"

"Well, I'm planning my wedding in a week! How can you not expect me to be busy? Besides, the Lynches and Ellington are supposed to be here in just a couple hours and we need to be ready!" she snaps, her eyes scrolling down the list she made for herself. She says it helps her organize her thoughts, but I just think it stresses her out more every time she reads everything that has to be done. I still don't understand why so much has to happen. I mean, you get flowers, outfits, food, friends and family, go somewhere, say some stuff and you're married. Why is it such a big issue to plan every little detail?

I grab her hands and look into her eyes, "Als, you need a break. We'll just go do something for a couple hours until everyone gets here, ok?" She sighs and nods. "C'mon."

I get my keys off the counter and we get into my truck. I'm driving to the harbor when I spot a chocolate shop. We park and go inside. It's a little shop decorated in dark browns, a caramely color and white. In the window hangs a little wooden sign with fancy handwriting saying that it's open. A bell rings as we open the door. It smells _so _good in here. In the middle is a little table with things like teddy bears, gift bags and gift cards on it. Every wall is hidden by shelves covered in chocolate things. There're truffles, fudge, white chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, chocolate with caramel, chocolate with nuts, chocolate with berries! Behind the counter at the back of a shop stands a middle aged woman with really dark brown hair. She smiles at us, her sapphire eyes shining. I think this lady must really like working here. Personally, I wouldn't be able to control myself. I'd end up eating everything.

Ally goes up to the table in the middle and hugs one of the teddies. "It's so soft, Austin!" she exclaims excitedly. I smile; it's so good to see her smile. The past few days, she hasn't "had time" to smile because of all the planning. She assured me that she's ecstatic, but that there's just so much to be done. Her words, not mine. I pick up one of those assorted chocolate boxes. It looks tasty; I think I'll buy it for Ally.

We walk over to the lady, "Did you find everything you wanted?" she asks pleasantly.

"Yes, thank you," I respond handing her the teddy bear, chocolate box and a bag of dark chocolate with nuts I'm buying for myself. She scans them with the red laser thing and I hand her my credit card.

She smiles, "Have a good day, you two!"

"You too." We leave, the bell tinkling behind us and get back into my truck.

I pull out the box of chocolates and teddy bear, "For you," I tell Ally.

"Thank you, Austin! You know you don't need to do this kind of thing," she says and smiles.

I kiss her cheek, "See the thing is, Als, I wanna." She blushes and opens the box. I try some of the chocolate I got for myself, it's really good. The package said it was made on location so I guess all the good smells are made by fresh chocolate. "Which one are you eating?" I ask.

"Well, I just tried one of the coconut and dark chocolate which was delicious. Now I'm having a salted caramel toffee," Ally replies, popping a chocolate into her mouth.

"Mmm, sounds good!"

"Yup, thanks for buying them for me!"

I chuckle, "You're welcome, Als." The teddy bear is sitting on her lap. It's about a foot tall so a pretty average size; it has white fur and is wearing a pink bow around its neck. "What are you gonna name it?"

"What?" Ally looks up from her chocolates.

"The bear," I answer smiling.

"Oh, hmm…what do you think I should name it?"

"Definitely Austin."

Ally giggles, "I don't know, it looks more like a Lucy to me."

"Well, how 'bout Moon then? It's white and all and it could be a girl's name."

"Hmm, Moon. Moon…Moon…Moon…" she mumbles holding it up in front of her so she can study it. "I like it!" she looks seriously into Moon's face, "I christen you Moon." Ally touched its nose with her finger and set it back into her lap.

I laughed, "You christen them?"

"Yeah! That's just an official way to name them," she laughs along with me. I turn on the radio for some background noise as we drive.

_You could be my luck_

_Even if the sky is falling down_

_I know that we'll be safe and sound_

_We're safe and sound_

_I could fill your cup_

_You know my river won't evaporate_

_This world we still appreciate_

_You could be my luck_

_Even in a hurricane of frowns_

_I know that we'll be safe and sound (safe and sound)_

_We're safe and sound (safe and sound)_

_We're safe and sound (underground)_

_We're safe and sound (safe and sound)_

We sing along even though we don't know all the lyrics to some songs and occasionally have to sing in different octaves than the artists. I park and the music shuts off. We get out, Ally leaving Moon and her chocolates in the truck. We walk to the edge of the water where boats of every type are docked. There are yachts, canoes, kayaks, row boats and sail boats. There's a little building nearby and we go inside.

"Hi, I'd like to rent a sail boat," I tell the man who's working.

"Ok, the wind's favorable today so it should be fun for you guys." He scans my credit card and tells us, "Go ahead and choose a life vest and sail boat. Come back with it whenever." I put my wallet back in the truck so it doesn't get stolen and I don't drop it. I go back to Ally and we put on the life vests. She has a red one and I have a yellow one. These sail boats aren't like the big normal ones. These are made out of white plastic and are low in the water. A colorful sail hangs from the mast and there are a few ropes attached to it. We get on and put our shoes in the little area in the right side designed to hold stuff.

"So do you know how to control this thing?" Ally inquires.

I smile sheepishly, "Not really, but I've seen loads of people do it. I've also ridden on them before while I was in California. I'm sure it won't be too hard to get a hang of."

"Ok, just don't tip us over or get us stranded!" she instructs me. It actually doesn't take long. There is the rope that controls how far out the sail is and there're the ropes that control to which side it's on. At the back where I'm sitting is the tiller which controls which way we're going. Once out of the harbor, the wind billows the sail out and we start moving faster. It's so cool! From my position, I can see Ally sitting on the edge instead of the benches. Her feet are dangling in the water and her hair is being blown back.

Ally laughs and shouts back to me, "This is so much fun!"

"Yeah, it is!"

"We need to do this again sometime!"

"Ok!" We sail around a little more, enjoying the salty spray and breeze. The wind dies down some and I leave my post at the tiller with all the ropes to sit by Ally. We're facing away from Florida and so the huge expanse of rolling blue is stretched out before us. I hold her hand and we sit there in companionable silence. Seagulls fly around and squawk overhead.

When the wind picks up again, my fiancé sighs, "We should probably be getting back soon."

I squeeze her hand, "Ok, Als. Just try to relax while we're still out here." I return to the tiller and we start back. Turning around, I realize how far out we've actually come. The coast looks tiny! Some of my hair blows into my eyes and I quickly brush it away. I wonder what dress Ally'll pick. She hasn't let me see any of them although I know she took pictures of them on her with her phone and sent them to Rydel and Mom for their opinions. She did tell me though that there are four different ones she's considering. I don't really think I'll care which one she chooses though, she'll still look beautiful. Heck, she'd look gorgeous even if she wore a sack! Hmmm…I have to make sure the caterers bring pancakes and pickles… All too soon, we're back. We grab our shoes and disembark. We return our life vests and thank the boat rental guy.

Ally checks her phone, "Austin! We've been busy for the past hour and a half; Rydel just texted me saying that they're about to land! We gotta get to the airport to pick them up," she exclaims.

"I thought you said we had a couple hours," I respond getting on the road to the airport.

"I did, it's almost been a couple hours. The plane is about ten minutes early."

"Ok, we're on our way, Als." I turn on the radio, but it's back to wedding planner Ally so we don't sing like we did on the way to the harbor. I notice she's eating some more chocolates. I chuckle, "Hey, Als, you might want to save some of those for later."

She smiles slightly, "Oh, right. Thanks, Austin." We drive around the airport until we find the Lynches and Ellington standing under the Alaska Airlines sign. Wait, how are we going to fit them all? We only have three open seats and there are seven extra people…

"Hey, guys! Hey, Mom and Dad!" I yell out the window. We stop and they put all their luggage in the back. "So, here's the deal. There are only three seats open. I choose to give them to Mom, Dad and Rydel," I tell them. My almost sister, mom and dad climb into the truck while the boys stare at me blankly.

Ellington speaks up, "So what're we gonna do then, Ross?"

"Firstly, call me Austin here. Secondly, you guys'll ride in the bed," I smirk. They sigh and get in along with the luggage. Rydel will be staying with Ally in the spare room while she's here; I have to deal with Riker, Ryland, Rocky and Ratliff all in my house! I love them like brothers, but that doesn't mean I want them all in my house for days! I guess two will crash in the guest room, one on the floor of my room and one on the couch downstairs… The ride is noisy as my mom, Rydel and Ally discuss wedding plans. My dad says hello to me, but any conversation we would have tried to have is soon drowned out by the women. I can still hear the shouts from the bed of my truck though.

"Ouch, that was my foot!"

"Ross, slow down!"

"We're supposed to call him Austin!"

"Right, Austin, slow down!"

"Ow! I think I just banged into someone!"

"No kidding, that was me!"

"What if there's police somewhere nearby and they hear or see us?"

"Should we keep it down?"

"Yeah!" They fall quiet for a little before starting up again. I sigh, what if a police officer really does see them? Does anyone even know how much I'll get fined for four guys riding seatbelt-less in the back of my truck on the freeway? Once we arrive back at the houses, everyone unloads and I release a breath I didn't even know I was holding.

Ally comes up to me, "Thanks for the get-away, Austin. It was great," she smiles.

"No problem, Als." She stands on her tip-toes 'cause she's pretty short and kisses me on my cheek.

"Well, bye. I gotta get back to planning and settling Rydel in. You should help the guys," she chuckles. I smile and let everyone into my house.

**A/N**

**I hope you enjoyed! Please review, favorite, and/or follow! :) Also, please vote on my poll for Ally's wedding dress if you haven't already done so! If you don't know what they look like, read the previous chapter or just search the URLs at the bottom of my profile. Thanks! If you can't find my poll for some reason (I can't but it's up) then just put your vote in a review please. Until next time :)**

**~Maggie**


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